SAP and Uhlmann Unveil a New Model for Manufacturing Resilience at Hannover Messe 2026

SAP and pharmaceutical packaging machine manufacturer Uhlmann have announced an integrated approach that embeds digital production environments, open data ecosystems, and SAP Business AI directly into operational processes. It signals a pivotal shift in how industrial companies are rethinking value creation under pressure.

The announcement, made at the opening of Hannover Messe 2026, centers on PacXplorer, a high-tech packaging machine developed by Uhlmann that serves as both a live industrial demonstrator and a co-innovation platform. Rather than presenting a theoretical prototype, the two companies are running the machine live at their Hannover Messe booth, fully integrated into SAP system landscapes, underscoring the real-world operability of their approach.

A Live Testbed for Industrial Data

According to an SAP media statement, PacXplorer was developed through collaboration within Factory-X, a lighthouse project that is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy under the broader Manufacturing-X initiative. The initiative’s goal is to establish a decentralized data space for the capital goods industry, enabling secure, interoperable data exchange among companies, equipment manufacturers, and operators.

The machine consolidates digital twins, condition monitoring, smart services, and interoperable production solutions within a single collaborative data ecosystem. This translates into real-time transparency across asset condition, utilization, and performance, creating the operational foundation for new data-driven service models. Critically, the machine demonstrates how industrial data can be used in a sovereign, cross-company manner in actual production operations.

AI Enters the Service Workflow

One of the more operationally significant dimensions of the SAP-Uhlmann partnership is the application of AI in manufacturing to spare parts service. This is an area that remains heavily manual in most industrial organizations and carries an outsized impact on uptime and customer satisfaction.

SAP and Uhlmann have developed an AI-supported workflow that manages the entire spare parts service process, which includes handling incoming inquiries, clarifying missing information, identifying the correct part, and generating quotations. The process integrates directly into existing SAP service and sales workflows, designed for speed, reliability, and scalability without requiring a wholesale process overhaul.

The business rationale is clear: in volatile supply environments, delays in spare parts translate directly into downtime and economic loss. Automating and accelerating that workflow is not a convenience — it’s a competitive necessity.

Decision-Making Under Uncertainty

Dominik Metzger, President and Chief Product Officer for SAP Supply Chain Management, noted, “Today, industry is less concerned with cost optimization than with decision-making under uncertainty. With SAP Business AI and integrated production and service solutions, we move decision-making directly into business processes. This allows companies to identify risks early, respond with greater flexibility, and remain operational even under unstable conditions.”

That shift from cost efficiency as the primary industrial KPI to operational resilience reflects a broader market reality that SAP is positioning itself to address through embedded AI and connected data architectures.

The partnership between SAP and Uhlmann does not end when Hannover Messe closes on April 24. Following the event, the PacXplorer will be permanently operated at the SAP S.Factory in Walldorf, serving as a live platform for customer engagement, partner collaboration, and ongoing co-innovation in industrial transformation.

What This Means for SAPinsiders

Embedded AI in service operations has become a resilience strategy in the current environment. The AI-powered spare parts workflow SAP demonstrated with Uhlmann is a direct model for what embedded AI in service and sales processes can look like at scale. SAP users running SAP S/4HANA or SAP Field Service Management should assess where manual service workflows — particularly in spare parts, inquiry handling, and quoting — are creating operational bottlenecks. The SAP-Uhlmann approach shows that AI integration doesn’t require ripping out existing systems; it is designed to work within current SAP process landscapes, making adoption far more realistic for organizations already on SAP.

Factory-X and Manufacturing-X signal the next wave of cross-company data collaboration. For SAP users in the manufacturing and capital goods industries, Factory-X represents the emerging standard for how industrial data will be exchanged securely and interoperably across company boundaries, without ceding data sovereignty. Organizations that rely on SAP system landscapes should begin aligning their data governance and integration strategies with the Manufacturing-X framework now, particularly if they operate in supply chains where machine and plant manufacturers, operators, and service providers need to share operational data. The PacXplorer is the first real-world proof point that this model works outside of the lab.

The digital twin is evolving from a visualization tool to an operational decision engine. The PacXplorer’s integration of digital twins with condition monitoring, SAP system data, and AI moves the digital twin concept well beyond its traditional use as a visualization or simulation tool. For SAP users exploring SAP Asset Performance Management or SAP Digital Manufacturing, this announcement reinforces that the digital twin’s business value is realized when it is connected to live operational data and actionable AI — not when it exists in isolation.