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R&D Tax Credit Study Services

WEST Product: Acena Consulting helps manufacturers turn innovation into cash flow with the R&D Tax Credit. Our proactive, responsive, and accurate approach maximizes your credits.

Cost Segregation Services for Real Estate Owners and Investors

WEST Product: Acena Consulting boosts cash flow with expert cost segregation studies—accelerating depreciation and maximizing tax savings.

Automation is Evolving - Make it Work for You

WEST Session: Robotics is advancing at a remarkable pace. Smarter AI models and improved hardware have made robots more capable and accessible than ever before. These shifts are transforming how we can make use of automation in fundamental ways: 1. Expand use cases through adaptability. Flexible robotic deployments open up opportunities to capture value from a wider range of applications. Adaptive automation becomes a tool for navigating uncertainty rather than a rigid asset. 2. Deploy faster with simplified programming. Your team no longer needs to spend days learning how to program the robot. Instruct robots in plain English instead. 3. Scale through modularity. Ecosystems designed around modular components allow deployments to grow and evolve with your operations. The cost of integration falls as automation spreads across your workflows. 4. Empower your workforce. Automation learns and scales the manufacturing knowledge of your company, enabling your team to focus on higher-value, higher-impact work. Join us to explore how these changes are reshaping both the economics and the role of automation, and what they mean for the future of your operations.

The Value of Digital Twins in Modern Manufacturing

WEST Session: Digital twins are rapidly becoming a cornerstone of advanced manufacturing, enabling companies to simulate, optimize, and validate their production processes in a virtual environment before committing to physical execution. This presentation explores the value of digital twins specifically in the domains of CNC machining, robotic automation, and the broader virtual factory. In CNC machining, digital twins replicate the behavior of machines, tools, and part geometries, allowing for precise simulation of toolpaths and real-time detection of potential collisions, over-travel, and inefficiencies. By simulating the exact machine kinematics, spindle dynamics, and tool libraries, manufacturers can reduce setup times, improve part quality, and significantly lower the risk of costly rework or downtime. In robotic work cells, digital twins mirror robotic behavior, motion, and task sequences. This enables manufacturers to program, test, and optimize robot trajectories and tool interactions virtually - ensuring safety, cycle time optimization, and maximum utilization of expensive automation assets. Collision detection, reach analysis, and process synchronization can all be handled digitally before deployment on the shop floor. At the virtual factory level, digital twins provide a holistic view of the entire manufacturing environment - integrating machines, robotics, material flow, operators, and logistics into a unified simulation. This enables strategic decision-making, accurate capacity planning, and the ability to test process changes in a risk-free virtual environment. The result is greater agility, resilience, and efficiency across the entire production lifecycle. Attendees will gain insight into how digital twins reduce risk, increase productivity, and enable smarter planning across manufacturing operations. By harnessing digital twins in CNC machining, robotic systems, and factory-wide simulations, companies can accelerate their journey toward digital transformation and fully realize the promise of Industry 4.0.