{"id":2015,"date":"2018-06-29T09:38:03","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T07:38:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.blogs.yokogawa.de\/chemical-pharma\/uncategorized\/analytical-system-solutions-eat-without-cooking\/"},"modified":"2022-06-17T09:28:21","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T07:28:21","slug":"analytical-system-solutions-eat-without-cooking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yokogawa.com\/eu\/blog\/chemical-pharma\/en\/analytical-system-solutions-eat-without-cooking\/","title":{"rendered":"Analytical system solutions \u2013 eat without cooking!"},"content":{"rendered":"

What have analytical system solutions<\/a> got to do with cooking and eating? They\u2019re both about staying alive<\/em>. Analytical systems<\/a> need maintenance to stay alive<\/em>. We humans have to eat or we die. You could say that\u2019s \u201cmaintenance\u201d too in the broadest sense of the word.<\/p>\n

Like practically anything that\u2019s vital for survival, both of these \u2013 food for us and maintenance for our analytical systems<\/a> \u2013 are something we do as a matter of course. Every day. We\u2019ve been doing it for as long as we can remember. It\u2019s in our blood. It\u2019s a familiar routine.<\/p>\n

We can all eat but we can\u2019t all cook<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Just imagine eating roast pork with potatoes and red pepper sauce every day simply because it\u2019s your favorite food (I know, I know, but for the sake of a better example \u2026). Every day for twenty years. Then your chef hands in his notice \u2026 and you\u2019ve got a problem! If it\u2019s been your staple diet day in, day out, you notice immediately if it\u2019s not quite right \u2013 too much salt today, maybe, or the meat slightly burnt. You\u2019re an expert in the field and you know exactly what it should taste like. But how is it made? Which meat should you use for roasting? How do you turn the pepper into sauce? How long does it have to stay in the oven? You probably knew all of the answers once, but that was twenty years ago!<\/p>\n

Analytical system solutions<\/strong><\/h3>\n

PAT solutions<\/a> are extremely important if processes in the chemical industry are to take place safely, effectively and efficiently. When you consider that lost production or a decline in product quality is liable to involve very large sums of money and impact on the competitiveness of your process operations, it\u2019s no exaggeration to suggest that PAT solutions are vital for survival. That\u2019s why maintenance, too, is a matter of routine: there are plans and procedures, checks and validations, spare parts, know-how and experience. Fantastic!<\/p>\n

Disrupted routine<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Nothing lasts forever, especially where competitiveness is concerned. The manufacturing process for the product changes, for instance. There is a demand for other products or for products with other features. Product quality expectations continue to rise. Legal requirements and regulations are toughened up. The PAT technology you\u2019ve been using becomes obsolescent. And even if your gas chromatograph<\/a> keeps going for ever more (or at least, that\u2019s what it seems like), part or all of the PAT solution will someday reach the end of its life.<\/p>\n

The chef is history<\/strong><\/h3>\n

You\u2019re forced to cook now before you can eat. Your existing analytical solution is more than twenty years old and in need of replacement. If you haven\u2019t got an engineering department that designs that kind of solution on a regular basis, you\u2019re in for a shock: your company has either been economizing on resources or it\u2019s outsourced them. The architect of the analyzer shelter all those years ago has most likely been enjoying well-earned retirement for years. You certainly can\u2019t talk about routine and experience anymore if the last time you did any cooking yourself was twenty years back.<\/p>\n

Underestimated problems<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Is it really that difficult to create a new analytical solution? Well, for a start, the new solution is going to be different from the old one. If all you\u2019ve had so far is a tape recorder, you won\u2019t bother replacing it with a new one; you\u2019ll buy one of those UHD gadgets. It\u2019s not that you don\u2019t understand the process: it\u2019s the many, often invisible, details of an analytical solution that make the difference later on between good and bad functions, e.g.<\/p>\n