Overview
Stratasys is leading the global shift to additive manufacturing with innovative 3D printing solutions for industries such as aerospace, automotive, consumer products, and healthcare. Through smart and connected 3D printers, polymer materials, a software ecosystem, and parts on demand, Stratasys solutions deliver competitive advantages at every stage in the product value chain. The world’s leading organizations turn to Stratasys to transform product design, bring agility to manufacturing and supply chains, and improve patient care.
Challenge
Stratasys engaged Green Custard to work in close partnership on their 3D Printer Gateways using AWS IoT Greengrass to communicate efficiently and securely with the Cloud. As an IoT Specialist Consultancy and AWS Advanced Tier Partner, Green Custard was brought in to support edge certificate management and the automated configuration of new gateways in an efficient, secure and cost-effective manner that adhered to industry best practices.
Solution
Given the project’s collaborative requirements, a Green Custard Lead Developer was embedded into the Stratasys team and engineering process to ensure smooth integration, joint decision-making, and active knowledge sharing. This close partnership helped reduce risks, drive efficiencies and enhance team learning.
Green Custard’s Lead Consultant, Yuci Gou, worked alongside the Stratasys engineering team to review existing designs and workflows. Together, they identified key areas for enhancement and developed targeted solutions. These efforts focused on the following key outcomes:
1. Onboarding 3D printers and gateways
Green Custard and Stratasys co-designed and prototyped a secure onboarding process for 3D printers and configuring gateways within an AWS IoT Greengrass environment. The process begins with the printer pairing using temporary credentials, verified by cloud services. After verification, each device is assigned a unique identifier, certificate and key, enabling secure reconnection with new credentials. Gateways are commissioned or redeployed through a queued Greengrass deployment, with a DynamoDB table serving as a single source of truth for deployment status.
2. Automated Certificate Management
Working collaboratively, the teams designed an automated solution for creating and renewing gateway CA certificates, significantly reducing manual intervention.
3. System Health Monitoring
A real-time monitoring solution was implemented to track printer connectivity via MQTT heartbeat messages, with updates to shadow documents. This system allows Stratasys to monitor printer status continuously.
4. Cross-platform compatibility
The teams ensured the custom components were compatible with Windows and Linux platforms, significantly reducing the complexity of managing different environments. They also recommended Java for future Greengrass component development to further enhance cross-platform compatibility and simplify the management of runtime dependencies, laying the groundwork for easier scaling and long-term maintenance.
Outcome
The collaboration allowed Stratasys to leverage specialised AWS IoT expertise while retaining full involvement in the system design and development, accelerating the project and enhancing team capabilities. The close working relationship facilitated effective knowledge transfer, ensuring a smooth and efficient handover.
“A very professional team that supported us throughout our IoT journey, specifically in AWS IoT Core and Greengrass, and providing valuable guidance and resources that helped us achieve our goals.”
10/10- Moshe Benaish, Director of Engineering, Stratasys