Working with SECS/GEM devices

Anyone using Tulip to interact with devices that communicate via SECS/GEM Protocol, either directly or indirectly? These devices are becoming more prevalent in our plants and we lack the systems to integrate them. If anyone has a setup for them similar to how an OPC-UA server would be used to aggregate PLC communications, let me know!

Hey MoPositive,

You should take a look at https://secsandgem.com, a GUI driven software for interfacing with SECS GEM enabled devices. They have a module to make this data available via OPC UA that makes this especially well suited for integration with Tulip.

Thanks Dillon, I’ve looked at it and it is promising. Hoping someone here has experience with implementation of that or something like it. The Tulip side looks easy but talking to the tools it almost sounds like I have to ‘write’ an interface for each one, which doesn’t sound so great.

We’ve been exploring options for integrating SECS/GEM protocol devices into our operations and are looking into solutions like Tulip. While Tulip is traditionally used for data collection and workflow automation on the shop floor, integrating it with SECS/GEM devices may require an additional layer for communication, as Tulip doesn’t natively support SECS/GEM protocols.

However, if you already have an OPC-UA server in place, it might be possible to create a bridge or middleware solution that would translate between SECS/GEM and OPC-UA. This could enable Tulip to aggregate data from your SECS/GEM devices, similar to how it handles PLCs, by using an intermediary protocol or service.

You might want to look into middleware platforms or specialized connectors for SECS/GEM that can interface with Tulip or OPC-UA, as these are becoming more widely available for plant floor integrations.

Would love to hear if anyone has implemented this type of setup or has more experience with Tulip and SECS/GEM integration!

We ended up going the direction Dillon mentioned above. Though we are not sending the data to Tulip, we use the ErgoTech TransSECS tool to poll devices via SECS/GEM and then expose that data to other systems using OPC-UA. The software can be used for creating HMIs and complex programs for your SECS/GEM devices but we only use it to get data from the devices, today. If I were using it to send data to Tulip, I would probably keep all the UI stuff and logic at the Tulip level, too.