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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.

WEST Session: The R&D Tax Credit is a powerful federal incentive that rewards manufacturers for innovation in product design, process improvements, and new technologies. It directly reduces tax liability or payroll tax, freeing up cash to reinvest in equipment, workforce, and growth. Manufacturers often face challenges such as rising production costs, global competition, supply chain constraints, and the need to modernize with automation, robotics, and sustainable practices. The R&D Tax Credit helps offset these pressures by turning day-to-day problem-solving—like improving tooling, enhancing production efficiency, or developing prototypes—into measurable tax savings. To qualify, activities must pass the IRS “Four-Part Test”: seeking to resolve technical uncertainty, relying on science/engineering, involving experimentation, and aiming to improve a product or process. Eligible expenses include wages, materials consumed in development, and contractor costs. Two paths provide benefits: the Standard Credit , which reduces income taxes, and the Payroll Credit , which offsets up to $500,000 annually in employer payroll taxes—especially valuable for manufacturers reinvesting in growth. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (2025) restored immediate expensing of domestic R&D costs, eliminating the burdensome 5-year amortization. It also allows companies that capitalized expenses since 2022 to retroactively accelerate deductions. Strategies for manufacturers include building stronger documentation systems, aligning R&D tracking with engineering workflows, and leveraging tax planning to maximize credits year after year. Together, these updates give manufacturers powerful tools to manage costs, stay competitive, and invest confidently in new technologies.

WEST Session: As manufacturers strive to improve machine utilization, reduce downtime, and address workforce shortages, robotic CNC machine tending has become a critical automation strategy. Advances in robotic platforms and machine-tending technologies now enable shops of all sizes to increase throughput while maintaining consistent quality in competitive markets. In this session, Verx Corporation—a FANUC Robotics Authorized System Integrator and full-service distributor for VersaBuilt —will introduce the fundamentals of robotic CNC machine tending. Attendees will gain a framework for understanding how system components—robots, grippers, workholding, and operator interfaces—work together in collaborative applications. Following this introduction, VersaBuilt will highlight key challenges and solutions specific to CNC machine tending. Topics will include gripping strategies for varied parts and high-mix applications, simplified integration methods that reduce operator complexity while improving reliability, and how VersaBuilt’s MultiGrip, DuoGrip, and Zero Point (ZPS) Automation Systems leverage FANUC CRX robots to deliver scalable automation to a broader range of manufacturers.   The session will conclude with a live Q&A, giving participants the opportunity to connect these insights with their own manufacturing challenges. Attendees will leave with both a strong conceptual foundation and practical examples for addressing common barriers in robotic machine tending.

WEST Session: Join us for an insightful and action-packed session that reveals how smart process optimization is transforming financial, logistical, and ecommerce operations. Whether you're looking to streamline workflows, boost accuracy, or scale your business, this presentation delivers practical strategies. Takeaways and What You'll Learn The latest improvements in shipping, fulfillment, and order flow management that are elevating logistics and customer satisfaction. Sail seamlessly! Learn from two real-world business ecommerce customer integration examples—Shopify and BigCommerce—demonstrating how seamless connections with platforms like Acumatica, SAP Business One, and an AI Pricing Agent can streamline operations and support scalable growth.  Spotlight Feature: Pricing Automation Tool -  Say goodbye to manual pricing guesswork! Discover how this: Optimizes margins in real time Syncs across multiple channels Executes hands-free updates Keeps your pricing competitive—automatically Whether you're in finance, logistics, or ecommerce, this session is will provide insights to help you work smarter, not harder. Don’t miss your chance to see how innovation is driving scalable growth and operational excellence.

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.

WEST Session: This presentation will explore how modern manufacturers can eliminate delays and inefficiencies in MRO purchasing through a smarter, more connected procurement experience. Traditional indirect materials procurement is often siloed, manual, and reactive—creating friction across sourcing, approvals, and delivery. Vroozi’s SpendTech® platform changes that by offering an intuitive, self-service marketplace that automates requisitions, ensures contract compliance, and increases spend under management. Attendees will see how smart manufacturing systems can trigger AI-driven purchase requests, enabling real-time MRO fulfillment to keep operations running. We’ll walk through a real-world example of how a leading manufacturer accelerated response time and reduced downtime by digitizing and automating their indirect procurement workflows.

Speaker at WEST: Brian Liles, Vice President, R&D, Cost Segregation &179D, CSSI-Specialty Tax Services

Speaker at WEST: John Eide, Founder and President, Verx Corporation

Speaker at WEST: Al Youngwerth, CTO, VersaBuilt