Five reasons why X-Pact^® Digital Hub is a game-changer for the metals industry

With the X-Pact^® Digital Hub, SMS group is deep diving into the digital realm. It's a cutting-edge software ecosystem we've crafted specifically for the metals industry. The idea is to bring all industrial software applications, third-party software and individual developments under one roof. We are creating a unified system that boosts interoperability of software and user experience. By aggregating all data and integrating all control and production‑management applications within a single entry point, the X-Pact^® Digital Hub is set to improve operations and efficiency of entire production routes beyond the potential of an individual application alone.

Right now, the metals industry is dealing with a patchwork situation. Many metal producers, especially the established ones, operate an entire landscape of multiple systems with different entry points, technologies that don't talk to each other, and data flowing in all sorts of directions. From a user´s perspective, the software landscape of many metal producers consists of islands of functionalities, not a cohesive software ecosystem. In fact, we often see operators in the pulpits moving back and forth between two computers, copy-pasting set-points or any other data from one HMI to another. Yet, these metal producers do not have outdated or malfunctioning software. The problem is not the individual software application, it is the integration effort, metal producers would have to undertake in order to make this grown landscape of software speak to each other. This fragmentation slows things down and hinders efficient production.

The X-Pact^® Digital Hub, as a holistic software ecosystem is set to overcome the challenges metal producers currently face. We are aiming for a streamlined user experience with access to everything via one single point. Our applications participate in centralized data and information exchange in connected runtime environments. A central application portal enables a streamlined user experience with access to all software from one single access point. Each installed application adds to the pool of available functionalities that can be used as is, or combined to create new solutions via the provided interoperability and customization features. Thus, the X-Pact^® Digital Hub is as a long-lasting and constantly evolving software ecosystem. It features unified authentication with single sign-on, consistent look and feel, a central message bus supporting an event-based architecture, central event management and notification functions, running on robust and secure infrastructure with high availability. Even better: With every release, the number of features and functionalities will grow. Our release plan foresees sophisticated global information and integrated process model management, as well as safe and secure use of AI and large language models. The latter will support routine tasks and decision-making, thus reducing cognitive load for operators while ensuring consistency, so experts get to focus on higher value work. With the X-Pact Hub® we aim to improve production resilience and productivity, reduce human error and shorten decision times.

The X-Pact^® Digital Hub brings together 300 industrial software applications, so teams lose less time with manual workflows and media breaks between applications. On top of that X-Pact Digital Hub offers support for legacy software and potentially even third-party solutions. Built-in notifications and event handling means routine incidents are handled automatically, letting operators focus on work that actually adds value.

X-Pact^® Digital Hub combines data, processes, and routines so operators can optimize production from end to end and get comprehensive insights into production processes in real time. Through increased interoperability, data and information from different systems are structured and consolidated. On this basis, user-specific, holistic views can be created that are precisely tailored to the work objectives and decision-making needs of individual roles. 

At the level of individual process steps or pieces of equipment, the X-Pact^® Digital Hub fuses data, application and services together under one central orchestration layer. That means operational and information technology work hand in hand. The result is better day-to-day performance, earlier detection of problems, and higher maintenance availability thanks to predictive approaches. 

When looking across production lines and whole value chains, the X-Pact^® Digital Hub connects multiple assets, aligning conflicting production strategies and KPIs. Metal producers can optimize for multiple objectives – throughput, quality and cost – at the same time. Being able to integrate the whole value stream supports holistic decision-making, removes silos, and prevents teams from getting stuck in local, suboptimal solutions.

Put together, these capabilities let users focus on both local asset excellence and overall chain performance. That translates into tangible business benefits: better asset availability and process performance, higher product quality, lower operating costs, and improved sustainability—helping metals producers become more robust, scalable and future-ready.

We keep getting requests for such an ecosystem from various customers throughout the industry. In fact, we are already working on the first project that follows that logic. Additionally, already in the past, various units within SMS group started working on concepts to merge their products into one platform. We can draw from that experience now. Together with over the 300 sophisticated industrial software applications SMS group has to offer and over 1,000 engineers writing software every day, we have everything we need at our fingertips.