How Sunset Resources’ bi-coastal team seamlessly collaborates using Vention's Digital Twin

In the ever-evolving manufacturing and automation landscape, Sunset Resources Group is a bi-coastal team rewriting the rules of collaboration. President Alejandro Figuera, based in Texas, and Software Engineer Brian Kelly, located in New Jersey, are able to successfully execute manufacturing and pharmaceutical projects despite their geographic separation and multiple stakeholder involvement. This seamless collaboration thrives through Vention’s Manufacturing Automation Platform (MAP), a cloud-based tech stack for system integrators and manufacturers to virtually design, automate, deploy, and operate automated equipment and robot cells.

Communication is key

With three decades of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Alejandro helps clients evolve their manual processes into affordable and accessible automated solutions. Brian is responsible for the programming of the robots and the integration with third-party machines and data. Their partnership with Vention has opened new possibilities, enabling them to complete each step of an industrial automation project within a single, web-based platform. Accessible from anywhere, anytime, the Vention platform is crucial in enabling clear and effective communication, even across vast distances and among multiple stakeholders.

“The key is communication amongst teams. Engineering thinks a different way, software things a different way, management things a different way, and getting everybody to collaborate on that piece is very difficult. That’s one of the things Vention has, it’s clear communication.” - Alejandro Figuera, President

Out with the old, in with the new

The unique challenges of manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries often require merging processes manually to find effective solutions. Alejandro and Brian emphasize the critical importance of collaboration required between themselves, the client, and multiple third-party vendors. Traditionally, Sunset Resources would assemble the solution in their warehouse, complete the teaching, set up the protocol, then break it all down to ship it to the client and reassemble it on-site. Along the way, complications would inevitably arise due to the disconnect between involved parties and processes. With the Vention platform, many of these barriers are eliminated. 

Today, Sunset Resources relies on Vention’s MAP to make the integration and deployment of their manufacturing and pharmaceutical projects as seamless as possible. With MAP, traditional barriers are replaced with plug & play modular hardware and intuitive software that connects each step of the automation process. This is made possible due to Vention’s digital twin technology. 

Derisking with digital twins

Created automatically with every MachineBuilder design, the digital twin represents an interactive 3D model of the physical machine, down to the mechanical and electrical levels. Along with automatic part recommendations, MachineBuilder greatly de-risks any industrial automation design. When programming in MachineLogic, the digital twin allows for more precise remote programming of arm points, requiring fewer calibration steps during deployment. In addition, a digital twin improves overall quality, allows for faster defect detection, improves manufacturing equipment performance, and reduces the cost and time to create a new product. 

For Sunset Resources, the accuracy provided by the digital twin allows for strong collaboration across the team. Brian can remotely program the solution, Alejandro can set it up on the client’s site, and minimal adjustments are needed—cutting out time-consuming calibration steps common with traditional PLC programming. 

“The biggest thing is that live virtual twin. Being able to program the arm points remotely, then once it’s all setup, just being able to click ‘go’ and having everything work. Because that was always a huge issue, setting everything up and once you get there adjusting everything, you are eliminating the whole middle part of the project.” - Brian Kelly, Software Engineer

About Sunset Resources Group

The seamless collaboration demonstrated by Sunset Resources Group is an example of how companies can utilize Vention’s MAP to improve their collaboration. Despite many factors, including geographical distances, multiple stakeholders’ opinions, and 3rd party vendors, MAP bridges the gap, fostering innovation in the manufacturing and automation industries.

Sunset Resources is a biotech and automation company based in the United States. They are focused on developing first-in-class automation solutions and providing scientific application assistance where needed in your process. They also specialize in sample testing and discovery creation. Since 2021, Sunset Resources has been a dedicated Vention Automation Partner.