Facing persistently high international copper prices, the profit margins of the cable manufacturing industry, which is highly material-intensive, are being severely squeezed. To reduce costs from the source, leading factories have begun implementing “digital twin” and AI production scheduling systems. In the smart workshop of a special cable company, the system creates a full-process virtual model for each order. Through algorithms, it simulates millions of scenarios for conductor stranding pitch, insulation, and sheath thickness to find the “minimum material consumption plan” that still meets national standards. Simultaneously, the system links in real-time with diameter gauges and electronic scales on the production line, achieving closed-loop feedback control with gram-level precision. The factory’s general manager revealed that this technology has reduced average copper consumption per unit product by approximately 3.7%. At an annual production scale of several hundred thousand tons, this translates to potential cost savings of hundreds of millions of RMB. This shift marks an industry transition from competing on “scale” to waging a “lean cost war” based on data and algorithms.