The Analytical Instrument Dept. has shifted its focus from the repair-centered work it was involved in when the company was first established, to preventive maintenance (maintenance contracts and comprehensive maintenance) work, in order to prevent accidents and malfunctions with the equipment and ensure stable operation of the equipment. In order to respond to the various customer needs for preventive maintenance work in recent years, the department revised its pricing system in fiscal 2015, from a system of hourly estimates to a system of itemized unit pricing.
In 2017, the company developed an off-site calibration method that allows engineers to calibrate small and medium-sized spectrophotometers semi-automatically without having to visit the site. In 2022, the company also developed off-site diagnostic software that can be used to check the condition of large spectrophotometers (UH4150) using off-site calibration technology.
In terms of engineer training, we are focusing on developing multi-engineers within the department so that they can handle the wide variety of products handled by the Analytical Instrument Dept. From 2020, we have been providing education in line with field inspections and repair work using the various product group training machines installed at the Tsukuba Technology Center, with specially appointed lecturers.
In addition, in order to improve the synergistic effect of service capabilities for Hitachi High-Tech Science products, product training for thermal desorption mass spectrometers and ICP optical emission spectrometers was conducted in fiscal 2018 to make multi-engineers out of the products of the Hitachi High-Tech Science Oyama Works. Through these business reforms and education, we are working towards "highly efficient services" and "advanced services".

Since around 2014, there have been a series of quality irregularity problems in the domestic manufacturing industry, and in response to this, the demand for data integrity (DI) in analytical devices outside the pharmaceutical industry has been increasing year by year, and in relation to this, the demand for quality control of the entire laboratory where multiple devices are in operation and for LIMS (Laboratory Information Management system) has also been increasing.
The DI support version of the control software for spectrophotometers and atomic absorption photometers was released in 2018.
For HPLC and amino acid analyzers, we use Agilent Technologies' CDS OpenLAB software to meet customer DI requirements. The Analytical Instrument Dept. provides software upgrades from the standard version to the DI support version in response to customer needs.
Regarding LIMS, we are working with Hitachi High-Tech Solutions to promote sales of LabDAMS, after conducting training on LabDAMS (HSL-made LIMS) in FY2022.
As a newly added service-compatible product lineup, the Cary series of spectrophotometers manufactured by Agilent Technologies, which are particularly good at measuring samples with high optical density, which has been in increasing demand in recent years for bandpass filters, etc., were adopted in 2020.
In addition, in the midst of the global situation in 2020 with the spread of the new coronavirus infection, in order to respond to customer remote requests after the coronavirus, the “IP-KVM switch”, a system that can control equipment from a remote location, was adopted for the gas barrier test equipment, which generally takes several weeks to measure. In the future, we will consider adopting this technology for Naka product analysis equipment in response to customer needs.

In order to expand our business in the future, it is essential to formulate a global strategy, share it with the relevant departments, and implement it, which the Analytical Instrument Dept. has not been working on until now. In addition, in order to aim for even more "efficient services" and "advanced services" in our existing domestic services, we think it is important to develop new maintenance menus, such as extended support plans for devices that have reached the end of their consumable and maintenance parts holding periods, and to promote recurring business, as well as to promote the development of solutions that respond to the digitization brought about by technological innovations such as the rapidly developing IoT and AI.