Blog

Practical writing on SECS/GEM, GEM300 and equipment connectivity. Written to be useful whether or not you ever talk to us.

Architecture·9 min read

Three interfaces, and the cost of picking the wrong one

REST, GraphQL and WebSocket solve different problems. Choosing by preference rather than by shape is what produces an integration that works in the lab and falls over on a real fleet.

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Fundamentals·8 min read

SECS/GEM, explained for the people buying a fab

Your tools will not talk to your MES on their own. Here is the protocol stack that makes them, why it is not optional, and why the decision gets made earlier than most teams expect.

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Practical·9 min read

Twelve connectivity questions to ask before you sign the equipment PO

Every one of these is cheap to ask before purchase and expensive to discover afterwards. Take the list to your next equipment vendor meeting.

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Standards·10 min read

GEM300 in plain terms: E40, E87, E90, E94 and E116

Five standards that turn a tool that reports data into a tool a factory can actually orchestrate. What each one does, and what breaks without it.

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Architecture·7 min read

Air-gapped, India-resident, or cloud: where should equipment data live?

A decision framework for fab telemetry, including what actually crosses the boundary in each option and which questions your security review will ask.

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Practical·6 min read

What a connectivity readiness assessment actually produces

What the deliverable contains, what it costs you in time, and how to judge whether one is worth buying — from anyone.

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Working through this on a real tool set?

A connectivity readiness assessment turns the questions in these posts into a tool-by-tool answer for your plant.