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DECEMBER 2004 INDUSTRY NEWS

 

Brand Perceptions of Leading Scientific Instrumentation Suppliers

The life science instrumentation market is characterized by sectors with varying levels of competitive intensity, but across the market as a whole, a number of suppliers have established dominant brands, including Applied Biosystems (NYSE: ABI), Beckman Coulter (NYSE: BEC), Bio-Rad (Amex: BIO), GE Healthcare (NYSE: GE), and Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A).

To help life science executives understand where companies are positioned
in the market, BioInformatics, LLC has published "Brand Perceptions of Life Science Instrumentation Suppliers." Based on a survey of more than 1,800 life scientists, the report provides an in-depth look at nine instrumentation categories -- from basic instruments like centrifuges to cutting-edge technologies like DNA microarray and high-throughput screening instruments.

"The benchmarks provided in this report will help suppliers identify those core elements that contribute positively to their overall brand perception and where they are performing relative to both their competitors and customer expectations. With this information, steps can be taken to address any weaknesses that are likely to contribute to customer defections and lost share or it may be used to help exploit the weaknesses of their competitors," said Bill Kelly, President of BioInformatics, LLC.

One area that scientific researchers are less than satisfied with is the level of post-sales support they receive from their instrumentation suppliers -- specifically instrument calibration, technical support, replacement parts and service, and warranties. This finding suggests that while suppliers may view a sale as a culmination of a customer relationship, customers view the sale as the beginning of a relationship and have unmet expectations. To increase satisfaction and customer loyalty, suppliers should strive to have ongoing interactions with their customers and offer considerable assistance in the optimal use of the instrument for each customer's unique applications.

The survey also finds that customers have varying degrees of loyalty to their suppliers of instrumentation, and in some sectors, there are signs that current leaders are facing pressure from competitors. For example, based on who customers believe they will purchase instruments from in the future, Agilent appears to be poised to challenge Waters (NYSE: WAT), a leading supplier of chromatographs, and Applied Biosystems appears to be generating improved brand awareness for its DNA microarray instruments, placing pressure on the current leader, Affymetrix (Nasdaq: AFFX).

Another indicator of changes in the competitive landscape stems from an analysis of the suppliers scientists associate with different types of instruments and those companies they predict they will purchase from in the future. For example, although Beckman Coulter is the supplier most closely associated with cell analysis systems, BD Biosciences (NYSE: BDX) is both the current top supplier and most frequently mentioned future supplier in this category -- an indication of the strength of the BD Biosciences brand. As another example, few respondents (7%) associate Thermo Electron (NYSE: TMO) with mass spectrometers; however, Thermo was tied with Applied Biosystems as the most often mentioned future supplier of these instruments. This analysis can be used to spot competitive threats as well as measure the effectiveness of a company's brand strategies.

"The results of this survey confirm that brand perceptions affect the success of commercial suppliers in the instrumentation market. Innovations and advanced technology are undoubtedly important to life scientists, but performance is the measure by which instrumentation suppliers are most often judged. Strong brands help simplify the choices a customer needs to make by providing reassurance that the progress of research will not be impeded by sub-par performance by a supplier and its instrumentation," concluded Kelly.

For a complimentary Executive Summary of this report, please visit:
http://www.gene2drug.com/reports.84.html

New Essco Lab Service: Accelerometer Calibration

Essco Calibration Labs has added accelerometer calibration to our capabilities. We can service accelerometers to 10g peak, 10 Hz to 10kHz, up to 750 grams and can accomodate ICP (5 to 200 mV/g) and charge mode-type (5 to 200 PC/g) instruments. The testing includes a 1g/100 Hz reference test, sensitivity, linearity and frequency response testing.

Please contact Essco at 800-325-2201 with your specific needs and we can arrange for a pickup within New England or onsite service of your accelerometers.

 

Humidity Measurement Tutorial at the Measurement Science Conference

GE Infrastructure Sensing, a leading provider of precision sensing products, systems and services, announces that it will present a four hour Humidity Measurement Tutorial at the Measurement Science Conference (MSC) on January 19, 2005, in Anaheim California. The tutorial will be part of the MSC that includes workshops, tutorials, paper presentations and vendor exhibits on the science of measurement and calibration. GE Infrastructure Sensing will be exhibiting precision pressure, humidity and temperature instrumentation at Booths 1-4.

The Humidity Measurement Tutorial provides engineers and technicians—as well as those specifying and operating metrology, process, and building automation instruments and controls - with an overview of humidity measurement and instrumentation fundamentals. Humidity control is a very important parameter for energy management, process control, product testing and process validation of various parameters such as heat transfer, dimensional stability, emissions control and power management, yet the science of humidity measurement is often very difficult to understand. The tutorial provides a working knowledge of the subject matter and gives insight into the design and calibration considerations and procedures of humidity and trace moisture instrumentation. The workshop includes a CD-ROM resource disk with humidity parameter conversion software, application notes and white papers on the subject.

GE Druck, GE General Eastern, GE Kaye, GE NovaSensor, GE Panametrics, GE Thermometrics and GE Ruska are now under one name: GE Infrastructure Sensing.

Intertek Selected to Provide Laboratory and Analytical Services to BP North Sea Onshore and Offshore Facilities

BP's oil exploration and production business has awarded a consolidated contract to Intertek Caleb Brett for the provision of laboratory and analytical services to all of BP North Sea and Norwegian on & offshore assets. These services had been provided by a number of service companies in the past. Under the new contract Intertek Caleb Brett will be the sole provider of these services. The service agreement is for three years, renewable thereafter for three periods of two years.

Use of a single partner to provide offshore analytical services will bring significant benefits to BP through integration of the on-shore and off-shore production chemistry services, direct collaboration with providers of production chemicals and single point accountability through one Intertek project manager. Coordinated management of these services is expected to yield benefits in a number of different ways, including continuity of service, through the transfer of best practice between different operations and improved knowledge transfer between BP assets.

Intertek onshore laboratory services and offshore laboratory staff will be provided from Aberdeen, Scotland and Stavanger, Norway. The North Sea petroleum laboratories are supported by Intertek petroleum technology centre laboratories and regional laboratories close to BP North Sea assets. Intertek will also take responsibility for the production chemistry laboratory at BP's Wytch Farm in Dorset, England.
The BP agreement with Intertek Caleb Brett North Sea for services became effective on November 1, 2004.

Intertek Caleb Brett is the world's leading testing and inspection services provider to the global petroleum, refining and petrochemical industries. An international network of 200 laboratories serves clients located in over 118 nations. Services include laboratory analysis, cargo inspection, allocation certification, process and catalysis testing, certification, calibration and related activities supporting the global petroleum industry.

Electro Rent Corporation Fiscal 2005 Second Quarter Net Income More Than Doubles on Higher Revenue

Electro Rent Corporation announced that net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2005 more than doubled on higher revenue compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2004. For the three months ended November 30, 2004, net income increased 134% to $6.2 million, or $0.25 per diluted share, compared to $2.7 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, for the second quarter of fiscal 2004. Revenue for this year's second quarter increased 14% to $27.5 million from $24.2 million for the same period last year.

"During the second quarter we continued to increase both rental and lease volume and operating efficiency. Both our test and measurement and data products businesses performed well, with more equipment out on rent and at better prices than we achieved in last year's second quarter and in the first quarter of this year. The increasing efficiency of our operations and improved customer service also contributed to our excellent performance. The benefits of all this hard work are clearly apparent, as we were able to support higher revenue while continuing to reduce costs," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Greenberg.

"In the past three quarters, we have purchased a substantial amount of new equipment, and our continued success in placing it effectively with customers has allowed us to capitalize on the gains we captured earlier in the fiscal year. We have continued to invest to ensure that our equipment pool is both technologically up-to-date to meet our clients' evolving requirements and properly sized to meet our objectives for utilization and pricing," Greenberg said.

Equipment purchases totaled $12.2 million for this year's second quarter and $34.0 million for the first half of fiscal 2005, compared to $12.9 million and $23.2 million for last year's second quarter and first half, respectively. The book value of Electro Rent's equipment pool rose to $108.3 million at November 30, 2004 compared to $96.3 million at May 31, 2004 and $87.3 million at November 30, 2003.

Electro Rent Corporation is one of the largest nationwide organizations devoted to the short-term rental and leasing of personal computers, servers and general purpose electronic test equipment.

Tektronix Reports Results for the Second Quarter of Fiscal 2005

Tektronix, Inc. reported net sales of $266.8 million and a net loss from continuing operations of $2.6 million or $0.03 per share for the second quarter ended November 27, 2004. This compares with net sales of $217.9 million and net earnings from continuing operations of $36.5 million or $0.42 per share for the same period last year.

"We are pleased with our performance this quarter. We saw solid order growth across most of our product lines and sales growth of over 20%. We were especially pleased with the performance of our general purpose products and the contribution from the acquisition of Inet Technologies," said Rick Wills, Tektronix Chairman and CEO.

"Regionally, our order growth continued to be strongest in Asia/Pacific and Japan."
"We are now well into the integration of Inet Technologies, which we acquired on September 30 of this year," continued Wills. "The acquisition was a significant strategic step and will allow us to expand our addressable market."
"In addition, during the quarter we continued to grow our core business with the introduction of the TPS2000 digital storage oscilloscope with an industrial power application -- marking our entrance into the industrial power market. And, we continued our investment in our adjacent product categories with the introduction of the RSA3408A, a dramatic advancement in real-time spectrum analysis, just after the close of the quarter."

"In conclusion, we have had a great first half of the year with the acquisition of Inet and the resulting integration that is well underway; a very strong product flow that we expect to pick up even more over the coming quarters; strong sales growth and solid business results," concluded Wills.

 

The International Metrology Congress

The International Metrology Congress is organized every two years by the French College for Metrology. The event is being held June 20-23, 2005 in Lyon, France.

The aim of the Congress is:

  • to bring forth and to highlight new techniques of measurement and calibration that have been or are being developed.

    •
  • to present the evolution of metrology, and its implication in industry, research, environment and safety economy and quality, at the national and international level.
Aim: between 800 and 1,000 participants from 45 different countries
  • metrologists from companies,

    •
  • metrologists from calibration, analysis and testing laboratories,

    •
  • manufacturers and users of metrological equipments,
  • quality managers,

  • teachers and researchers.
The Congress is a meeting place for the exchange of information between people involved in scientific and industrial fields through:
  • oral conferences and poster sessions

    •
  • round tables

    •
  • an exhibition of metrological equipment

  • technical visits
    •

Visit www.cfmetrologie.com/index_congress.htm for more details.

 

Plan on Attending the 7th Annual International Dimensional Workshop

The 7th Annual International Dimensional Workshop (IDW) has been scheduled for May 9-13, 2005 at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN.

The theme of IDW for 2005 is “Tomorrow’s Dimensional Measurement Technology Today.” This workshop, now being produced by Quality Magazine in conjunction with The Metrology Group (TMG) headed by Ed Pritchard, will continue the same format as the previous years.

During the weeklong conference, the workshops and classes will cover a variety of areas including CMM operation and calibration, specifying, measuring and understanding surfaces, uncertainty budgets for the high uncertainty lab, dimensional measurement issues and strategies and multisensor metrology platforms.

An experienced group of speakers in these fields will be conducting the three classes offered; while the two-day workshop currently has a call for papers through December 17, 2004 to decide who is best suited for the topics decided. The group of teachers includes Dr. Jim Salsbury, Dr. Mark Malburg and Dr. Ted Doiron; all top professionals within the industry.

The conference starts May 9, 2005 and runs through May 13, 2005 at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN. The two-day workshop will be Tuesday and Wednesday (10th & 11th). Click for more IDW2005 details.

Conference registration fees are as follows, classes 1 & 2 – (1 day course, 8 hours each) $350 for each course, Workshop – Tuesday & Wednesday - $325 if registering before March 31st, $395 thereafter, class 3 – (2 day course, 8 hours both days) $700. For more information please contact Leslie Wood, Event Coordinator, at 888-530-6714 or by email: woodl@bnpmedia.com.

IDW 2005 will offer a range of exhibitors, here a just a few that attended in 2004, Western Environmental Corporation, Leica Geosystems, Brown & Sharpe and Hart Scientific Corporation; plus over 40 more.

Quality Magazine, a BNP Media publication, serves the quality assurance and process improvement needs of more than 64,000 manufacturing professionals with editorial focus on metrology methods & equipment, software & analytical tools and quality management.

Donald Zee - 60th President of ISA in 2005

Donald Zee will be the 60th president of ISA in 2005. Don joined the ISA Orange County Section in 1977 and has served as the ISA Orange County Sections' president, past president, treasurer, and publicity chair for the ISA/94 and ISA/91 Conference and Exhibition. He served as a member of the Finance Committee, Investment Committee, Honors and Awards Committee, Student Section Support Committee, and a member of the Nominating Committee as District 11 nominator. Don also has served as District 11 vice president, chairman of the Council of District Vice Presidents, and general chairman of the ISA TECH/97 Host Committee. He served on the Executive Board and Executive Committee as treasurer of the Society from 1998 to 2002.

Don received the 1998 Distinguished Society Service Award. In 1994 the ISA Orange County section created the “Don Zee Award” to acknowledge his contributions to the Section and Society. The Don Zee Award is presented annually to a section member making significant contributions to ISA, the ISA Orange County Section, or industry.

Don is president of Don Zee Associates, a management-consulting firm based in Laguna Beach, California, which he founded in 1975. Prior to this, he was a principal co-owner of a measurement and control systems sales company. He was the West Coast Sales manager for The Foxboro Company’s Digital Systems Division. Don spent the 60s initially as a project engineer, then as sales application engineer, at E.I. DuPont De Nemours in Delaware, New York, and Tennessee.

He earned his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, and completed courses toward an MBA at the University of Delaware. Visit ISA for more information.

 

MKS Locations Consolidate into Larger Facility

MKS Instruments, Inc., a leading provider of process control technologies for improving productivity in semiconductor and other advanced manufacturing process environments, has relocated MKS' two Austin, TX sites into one larger facility. The consolidation brings together MKS Austin Sales & Field Service, product development for Control & Information Technology Products, and R&D/product development for Power & Reactive Gas Products into one 20,880 square foot facility that has been organized and facilitated to better meet MKS' business goals.

The larger facility, which includes a new lab to provide hands-on product training to customers, enhances communication and interaction among the various MKS product groups, allowing MKS to more efficiently meet the needs of its customers.

Visit MKS Instruments for more information.

 

British Scientists Surge Ahead in Race For Time

NPL's Optical Frequency Team have found a way to make a clock a thousand times more accurate than the best available today. It would lose just one second in the lifespan of the universe. Their results, published in Science (19 November 2004) could lead to the redefinition of the second for the first time since 1967, and have implications for deep space exploration, global navigation and the functioning of email and the Internet.

"I've been working on this for more than twenty years and it is one of the most significant things this team has ever done, and one of the most important developments in NPL's 104-year history," says team leader Prof. Patrick Gill.

View more details at: www.npl.co.uk/optical_frequency_standards/ticking_faster.html

 

News from Bird Technologies Group

Bird Electronic Corporation and Bird Technologies Group, Inc., located in Solon, Ohio will receive a $150,000 Business Development grant to purchase and install machinery and equipment. The company manufactures radio frequency instruments and test systems and provides service and calibration solutions for electronic equipment. Bird is considering a plan to expand its Solon facility, relocating 76 management, sales and engineering positions from its New York operations. Ohio is in competition with New York for this $5.1 million project, which would create 76 new jobs in Ohio and retain 173 positions at the Solon facility. Other state assistance committed to this project includes a 55 percent, eight-year Job Creation Tax Credit and a $175,000 Ohio Investment in Training Program grant.

Visit Bird Technologies for more information.

 

ILAC Laboratory Survey on Uptake of ISO/IEC 17025

The global laboratory community appears to have coped well with the significant changes wrought by the introduction of ISO/IEC 17025 as the laboratory accreditation standard. While there are some remaining issues, particularly with regard to estimation of uncertainty and method validation, ILAC's Laboratory Survey on Conversion to ISO/IEC 17025 indicates that the bulk of laboratories around the world have accepted the new requirements.

Visit ILAC and read the ILAC Laboratory Survey on Conversion to ISO/IEC 17025. The 11-page survey results can be downloaded. Locate the link to the survey by clicking on the What's New link. The brief survey was distributed to accredited laboratories twice through accreditation bodies in early 2004. The response exceeded expectations - this survey attracted responses from over ten percent of the population!

 

NACLA Hires New Staff Person

The National Cooperation for Laboratory Accreditation (NACLA) has contracted with Fred Grunder to fill the newly created staff position of Evaluation Coordinator. Mr. Grunder assumed this position on the first of November.

The Evaluation Coordinator has the primary responsibilty for the ongoing monitoring of the
evaluations of laboratory accreditation bodies that apply for NACLA recognition. When need dictates it, the Coordinator is also in a position to become the leader of a given evaluation team. Applicants for NACLA recognition as competent accreditation bodies are evaluated comprehensively against the international standard for competence, ISO/IEC Guide 58, and NACLA's own recognition requirements. The pool of trained NACLA evaluators includes representatives of other accreditation bodies, industrial firms and governmental agencies.

Mr. Grunder brings to this position more than 35 years of relevant experience. He worked for more than 25 years in chemical testing laboratories, as a supervisor and director. For the next 10 years, he managed the the activities of a laboratory accreditation body in the industrial hygiene field. He is also a trained NACLA evaluator and a past president of the NACLA Board of Directors/Operations Council. He holds both bachelor's and master's degrees in physics from the University of Michigan

NACLA is a private-sector not-for-profit organization, incorporated in the District of Columbia, with offices in Orlando, FL and Arlington, VA.

 

ILAC Laboratory Committee News

By Tony Anderson, Chair, Laboratory Committee
Since the 7th ILAC General Assembly held in Bratislava, Slovakia, in September 2003, the Laboratory Committee (LC) has met in Charleston, South Carolina, USA in March 2004 for its 16th meeting and then on 8 and 9 October 2004 in Cape Town. Representatives from ACIL, CAEAL, EURACHEM, NACLA, NATA Laboratories, NCSL International, NLASA, and UILI attended the meeting last March. Jackie Sample, Chair of the ILAC Pubic Affairs Committee (PAC), was also in attendance. Over the two-day period a variety of topics were discussed and courses of action were agreed.

High on the agenda for the LC is the publication of the amended ISO/IEC 17025 standard, now expected in early 2005. The LC encourages ILAC to be ready to educate the relevant markets when the amended ISO/IEC17025 standard is published. The same is true for ISO 17011 when it is published and ILAC should be ready to assist the accreditation bodies.

On a related matter, the LC is very concerned about the removal of any statement about alignment or equivalence of the amended ISO/IEC 17025:1999 with the principles of ISO 9001:2000 on certificates of accreditation and laboratory testing and calibration certificates.
The LC feels that now more than ever, after the work of WG 25 to align ISO/IEC 17025:1999 to meet the principles of ISO 9001:2000, that a statement to this effect be included on certificates. Following a discussion in Bern at the APC meeting, the LC chair was tasked with developing language mentioning ISO 9001 for incorporation on laboratory accreditation certificates, to be presented as a resolution to the ILAC General Assembly (GA) in Cape Town.

The LC encourages a speedier implementation of the use of the ILAC “Mark.” It is believed that some accreditation bodies have indicated they will not, or cannot for national regulatory reasons, use the Mark and are opposed to ILAC making its use mandatory as part of their signatory responsibilities. The LC is particularly disturbed about this situation and urges, where possible, all accredited laboratories of ILAC signatories to ask their accreditation body to allow them to use the Mark.

The LC welcomes the idea of the formation of the ILAC PT Forum. The LC has discussed various issues with respect to PT at its recent meetings and is willing to participate in the broader debate. Of particular concern to the LC, is if PT is used as a tool to widen surveillance intervals, then the cost and overhead to laboratories for PT participation could escalate.

The LC appreciated the opportunity at the Joint Committee for Closer Cooperation (JCCC) meeting Bern to discuss the problems for LC members with joint ILAC/IAF meetings and the current length of the Annual General Assembly and associated meetings. Unfortunately, as far as the LC is concerned there appears to be little resolution to the problem, but welcomes the decision to survey both organisations’ members on the issue. The LC encourages future organisers of ILAC Conferences and General Assemblies to minimise the length and continue to pursue alternatives for Laboratory Stakeholder members, who do not have the support or the need to attend the IAF meetings.

Following the February Executive Committee meeting, the LC chair, along with the outgoing ILAC Chair, was tasked with looking at possible succession plans for the ILAC Executive Committee. There has been concern about the possibility, however unlikely, that the Executive Committee could completely change every two years at the GA. The LC shares this concern and endorses the consideration of alternatives to maintain smooth transition of ILAC’s management. This year, the Committee Chair has attended ILAC Executive and associated meetings held in Mexico City, Mexico, Bern, Switzerland and in Cape Town.

Active involvement by LC members in the other ILAC committees continues and provides the LC with valuable information for constructive cooperative efforts between the LC and the other committees. Dr. Maire Walsh attended the Arrangement Management Committee (AMC) meeting in Bern in June and along with Steve Sidney, the Technical Accreditation Issues Committee (TAIC) meetings in Charleston, South Carolina in March. The LC Chair attended the APC meeting and PAC meetings in Bern and in March the TAIC meeting and, together with Bryce McNair, the PAC meetings in Charleston. The Laboratory Committee co-ordinates its work program with the working groups formed by other committees. Some issues are monitored on an on-going basis such as those associated with ISO/IEC 17025:1999.

The LC endorsed the nomination of the current LC Chair to continue as Chairman for another two years. Dr Maire Walsh will also continue as the Vice Chair.

Visit ILAC and click on the News link, then the Committee link to stay abreast of ILAC and their various committee's progress.

 

A2LA Policy on Measurement Traceability

A2LA's Measurement Traceability policy document is intended to explain the concept of measurement traceability, how it can be achieved, and how it can be demonstrated. A2LA requirements pertaining to measurement traceability are described. This document is intended for all A2LA-accredited and enrolled calibration and testing laboratories.

The quality of products and services is becoming increasingly dependent on reliable measurements. The impoprtance attached to measurements is reflected in relevant standards by the requirement that measurements must be "traceable" to national or international standards of measurement. Different definitions and explanations of the term "traceability" exist in standards and various literature, giving rise to differing interpretations and misinterpretations.

Please visit A2LA , click on Recent Updates/Announcements, scroll to bottom of page to find listings of New or Revised Documents, and download a copy of the Policy, dated November 2004.
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