Netherland’s InnoVites was named the “Wire & Cable Digital Transformation Leader of the Year 2025” at the Global Business Awards.

A press release said that the company further cemented its reputation as the sector’s premier provider of smart manufacturing software and digital solutions with the recognition. The award recognizes InnoVites’ achievements in empowering wire and cable manufacturers to modernize processes, improve operational efficiency, and maximize business agility. With its flagship CableERP platform, now built on Microsoft Dynamics 365, and the rapidly adopted cableCORE MES system, InnoVites notes that it has driven digital transformation at scale, helping customers break down operational silos and respond quickly to shifting market demands.​

Founded in 2007 and led by CEO Albert Groothedde, InnoVites’s dedicated team has deep industry experience and a passion for transforming cable operations. It serves a global client base, providing tailored implementation, customization, and support for its enterprise solutions across supply chain, design, manufacturing, and logistics. “Our goal has always been to simplify complexity and bring clarity to digital transformation for wire and cable businesses,” Groothedde said in response to the win. “We’re proud to partner with our customers to boost efficiency and shape a resilient future for the industry.”

A Feb. 17 fire destroyed more than 80% of SPS Technologies’s 560,000-sq-ft plant in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. Now, its parent company, Precision Castparts Corp (PCC), reports that it will rebuild the fastener manufacturer.

Per the company and media reports, the plan is to build a 350,000-sq-ft LEED-certified facility that would be completed by early 2028. It expects to initially employ approximately 200 people at the new site, and will seek to bring back some of the workers who had previously been laid-off. The new building will integrate advanced fire safety and environmental protection measures, addressing both community concerns and regulatory requirements. Demolition of the old plant concluded in September.

According to authorities, the Feb. 17 fire that originated in the compressed air system area was deemed to be accidental. While the precise mechanical failure could not be isolated, the compressed air system failure produced multiple explosions, and numerous fires quickly spread throughout the building.

Per the company’s website, the business was founded in 1903 as Standard Pressed Steel Company. It was later renamed SPS Technologies and was acquired in 2003 by PCC. The SPS plant specialized in aerospace fasteners for use with engines, wings, fuselages and landing gear, using specialty alloys such as INCONEL, WASPALOY, titanium, MP35N, MP159 and AEREX. The company also supplied sectors that include medical, marine, power generation and auto racing.

Taylor-Winfield Technologies, Inc., a supplier of custom material joining, induction heating, and automation solutions, announced that it has bought substantially all the assets of George A. Mitchell Company (GMC).

A press release said that GMC, founded in 1963, makes push pointers, end forming machines and tooling. Its pointing machines and drawing benches are applicable for wire rod preparation, especially larger diameters that will be subsequently drawn into wire or cable. The custom material handling equipment that Mitchell produces could also be used in large-scale wire and cable plants when handling heavy rod or bar stock as a precursor step to wire drawing.

Both companies are based in Ohio. Taylor-Winfield’s product lines for wire and cable makers range from welding and joining machines to full turnkey automation and process support for a production line.

U.K.-based TE Magnetics, a fusion technology company founded in 2024 that is part of Tokamak Energy, announced that it has acquired Ridgway Machines, in a strategic move taken to further its development in the high temperature superconductor (HTS) sector.

A press release said that Ridgway Machines, based in Leicester and founded in 1920, will continue to operate under its own name as a subsidiary, with its workforce and facility unchanged. Ridgway’s expertise in winding and insulating superconducting magnets and cables was cited as being crucial for ramping up U.K. manufacturing of commercial HTS product, components vital not just in energy, but also in scientific and medical fields, power systems, distribution and propulsion.​

Ridgway Managing Director Andy Tanville said the company’s century-long track record of innovation makes it “well suited to expansion and this new period of growth.” He emphasized the excitement of joining one of the UK’s most dynamic technology businesses and the opportunity to help realize “ambitious and transformative plans.”

HTS materials, which conduct electricity with virtually no power loss, are enabling new advances in compact, powerful magnetics for fusion, zero-emission transport, and analytical science. Ridgway’s engineering skill, combined with TE Magnetics’ advanced design and prototyping, is expected to accelerate manufacturing breakthroughs and deliver scalable, high-quality products for demanding applications.​

Tokamak Energy CEO Warrick Matthews praised Ridgway as a thriving business with a highly skilled workforce, underscoring its essential part in supporting the electric revolution and addressing global challenges. Ridgway’s expanded role marks a new chapter for the firm, ensuring its expertise will help unlock the potential of next-generation superconductors.

Deployment of Nexans XLPE cable for the Celtic Interconnector—a project described as one of Europe’s most ambitious energy infrastructure projects—has finally entered the next key cable stage of an initiative that will not see commissioning until 2028.

A press release and media reports said the €1.6 billion project will link the Irish and French electricity grids with what will be the world’s longest XLPE interconnector. The official length is about 575 km in total, with some 500 km being XLPE subsea cable linking Ireland to France. The remainder of the cable will be used underground between converter stations and transmission grids in Cork and Brittany. The long-planned subsea installation began in the summer of 2025, and that project step is now expected to be completed by year’s end.

The project, recognized as a Project of Common Interest by the European Union, will enable Ireland’s first direct energy connection to continental Europe. Nexans was awarded the contract in 2022 to supply and install the cable. Construction started in 2023, with works progressing on pace on both land and sea. Converter stations in Cork County and Brittany are nearing completion, and significant portions of land cable ducting and transformers have been delivered.

Final commissioning, however, is still a long way off. Originally planned to be completed in 2027, the date has been pushed back to 2028 for multiple reasons, reports EirGrid, Ireland’s state-owned electricity transmission system operator. Substantial progress, however, has been made, and work is now physically underway off Ireland’s southeast coast with key cable-laying and burial activities. The remaining steps include completing system integration, rigorous operational testing, trial runs, and final certification—delays for such complex HVDC subsea projects are common industry-wide.

Co-funded by the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility, the project received more than €530 million in grants in recognition of its strategic impact.