AWS and OST Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences: An Innovation Factory for Swiss Industry

How cloud technology and artificial intelligence reach the production line directly – and why a university of applied sciences is the ideal place for it.

In most factories, production machines, measurement stations, and robots from various vendors stand side by side. Often, however they don’t communicate with each other. Anyone looking to leverage artificial intelligence to create value from this data – whether to reduce scrap rates or predict downtime – first needs a unified data foundation. This is exactly the problem that Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (OST) are now tackling together as part of a new collaboration under the AWS Cloud Innovation Lab program.

A data platform for the smart factory

The IWK – Institute for Materials Science and Plastics Processing at OST has been developing innovative solutions for over 20 years in collaboration with a network of Swiss industrial companies and international research partners, with complementary core competencies in advanced materials, production technologies, and component design. Around 60 staff members work with a state-of-the-art machine park that is available to companies looking to test new materials, processes, technologies before investing in their own production capabilities.

At its Rapperswil-Jona campus, OST is expanding this collaboration with industry into an Innovation Factory. Unlike a traditional research lab, this interdisciplinary center directly connects real-world manufacturing technologies – injection molding, additive manufacturing, metal machining, 3D printing – with robotics, AI, and data analytics. Companies can bring their own challenges and develop solutions jointly with the research team. Few facilities in Switzerland offer this breadth.

IWK Techpark in Rapperswil-Jona: State-of-the-art manufacturing technology for research and industry.

“Before our data converged on local laptops and servers – difficult to share, and no foundation to rapidly leverage new technologies like AI. On top of that, it’s nearly impossible to take a good prototype into production at an industry partner’s site,” says Prof. Dr. Frank Ehrig, Director of IWK

As manufacturing specialists, the IWK team and their partners don’t want to spend their time building IT infrastructure from scratch. With AWS as the cloud provider, this infrastructure is production-ready and scalable from day one – serving as the foundation for the Innovation Factory and for every industry project that emerges from it.

The first showcase project

What this looks like in practice is demonstrated by the first showcase project in the Innovation Factory – representative of many other manufacturing processes to come. As the initial use case, we’re connecting a complete injection molding production cell to the cloud: the injection molding machine itself (KraussMaffei), mold temperature control and in-mold sensing (Kistler), laser marking for individual part identification (Matriq), a precision scale (Kern), and a camera for visual quality inspection (Keyence). Six data sources, multiple different protocols and data formats – and ultimately one unified data platform.

Based on AWS IoT Greengrass – software that runs on an edge device directly at the plant and seamlessly connects it with the AWS Cloud – and AWS IoT SiteWise for structuring and visualizing industrial data, three concrete applications are built on top:

• Real-time quality dashboards with Amazon Managed Grafana give machine operators and production managers continuous visibility into current production status.
• AI-powered quality inspection directly at the machine detects deviations immediately and derives recommendations for ongoing production – without a round-trip to the cloud. Less time critical, more complex analyses are handled by Amazon Bedrock in the cloud, which automatically delivers root cause analysis.
• A digital product passport gives each manufactured part its complete production history via QR code: process data, quality inspection results, and material traceability.

The production cell (mold temperature control, in-mold sensors, laser marking, injection molding machine, scale, camera) transmits its data to AWS via various protocols. The cloud stores and synchronized the data, AI/ML models analyze it, and the results are displayed as dashboards in the browsers of machine operators and production managers.

Especially valuable for IWK: AWS cloud experts and the IWK team develop the infrastructure and application code jointly- using AI-assisted software development with Kiro, which drastically shortens development cycles. In the process, the IWK team itself undergoes a steep learning curve and can apply this knowledge to any number of additional production processes in the future – well beyond this first project.

“Kiro connected straight to the running hardware and debugged it systematically. What would otherwise have been weeks of manual troubleshooting was done in a single session.”, says Ramon Iten, OT Engineer, IWK

Why this collaboration advances Swiss industry

This collaboration is more than a single project. It’s part of our commitment to making cloud and AI technology directly available where Swiss industrial companies research, test, and train. Rather than offering technology only from a distance, we’re investing in an institution that has been bridging research and practice for years.

Not only companies benefit, but also the next generation of engineers: OST students work directly on this project, and in future bachelor’s and master’s theses they’ll use the same cloud and AI technologies deployed in industry – hands-on education that starts on the shop floor.

“Swiss industry is renowned for its innovation – and for its exacting standards of quality and precision. In IWK, we’ve found a partner that has been living exactly this interplay between research and industrial practice for over 20 years. Together, we’re bringing AWS technology directly into applied research, right to the machine, where companies can experience it firsthand. What emerges is not a pilot project destined for the shelf, but a model that Swiss companies can adopt themselves,” says Felix Schoenherr, Country Manager, AWS Switzerland.

Get involved

OST’s Innovation Factory is open to companies – regardless of how far along you are in your own digitalization journey:

• Services – short-term support, available at any time: consulting, material and failure analysis, or access to IWK’s state-of-the-art machine and equipment park.
• Industry R&D Projects – bring your own challenge, whether it involves new materials, products, or technologies. Initial trials can be conducted directly at IWK, with confidentiality guaranteed.
• Publicly Funded R&D Projects – for initiatives with greater innovation potential and risk: from Innosuisse innovation vouchers (feasibility analysis, CHF 15,000, 2–3 months) to multi-year Innosuisse or EU projects.

For more information or to discuss a specific project, visit the OST Innovation Factory website. If you’d like to learn more about the AWS technologies behind this project or discuss your own initiative with us, contact your AWS team.