Overview
Stratasys is an innovative and global leader in 3D printing. The company specialises in providing 3D solutions for various industries, including aerospace, automotive, healthcare, consumer products and education. Their extensive range of 3D Printers and services enables businesses to design, prototype and manufacture products efficiently.
Challenge
Stratasys engaged Green Custard to consult and develop solutions for 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 and active knowledge sharing. This close partnership helped reduce risks, drive efficiencies and enhance team learning.
Green Custard’s Lead Consultant, Yuci Gou, conducted an in-depth review of Stratasys’s existing designs and workflows. He identified key areas for enhancement and collaborated with the Stratasys Project Lead to develop targeted solutions. These efforts focused on the following key outcomes:
1. Onboarding 3D printers and gateways
Green Custard 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
To enhance security and efficiency, Green Custard 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
Green Custard 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, accelerating the project and enhancing team capabilities. The close working relationship facilitated effective knowledge transfer, ensuring a smooth and efficient handover.
“Very professional team that helped us in the IoT journey (specifically in AWS IoT Core and Greengrass), and provided us good guidance and resources to meet our goals.”
10/10- Moshe Benaish, Director of Engineering, Stratasys