Focus
Analytical Instruments
POISED FORSALESGROWTH "The analytical instrument industry is the quintessential high-technology industry. Its products embody the latest developments in electrical, electronic, optical, and other technologies." The quote is from "The Analytical Instrumentation Market in the U.S.," a recent market study by Frost & Sullivan Inc. The U.S. analytical instrument industry experienced two years of negative growth in 1982 and 1983, according to the study, but this recession hit only after a decade of "spectacular increases" in analytical instrument sales. Instrument order rates began to firm up in the second half of 1983, and the industry is experiencing a strong revival this year. Annual shipments of analytical instruments, as defined by Frost & Sullivan, increased from $350 million in 1973 to $1.35 billion in 1982, a growth rate of 16% in current dollars (12% in constant dollars), and sales of $3 billion (in constant 1983 dollars) are predicted for 1992. This would represent a slightly slower, but still respectable, constant-dollar growth rate of over 9% for the next 10-year period. Predicted annual growth will be highest in sales of ion chromatographs (18%), followed by fluorescence spectrometers (13%), polarographic analyzers (12%), liquid chromatographs (LCs, 10%), and Fourier transform infrared spectrometers (10%). Included in Frost & Sullivan's definition of analytical instruments are analytical spectrometers and chromatographs, electroanalytical instruments, thermal analyzers, and instrument data systems. Excluded are macromolecular instruments (such as electron microscopes), clinical analyzers, process scale and process control
instruments, and specialized gas sensors. According to the study, PerkinElmer (P-E) is "the leading company in [the analytical instrument] business by almost any standard," with the largest instrument sales revenues ($300 million in 1982) and the broadest product line. P-E is ranked either first or second in sales of infrared (IR), ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS), fluorescence, gas chromatography (GC), and atomic absorption (AA) instruments, as well as thermal, surface, and elemental analyzers. In addition, P-E is a leading supplier of instrument and laboratory automation systems and software. Hewlett-Packard (H-P), with $175 million in 1982 instrument sales, "is probably the most highly regarded analytical instrument supplier from the standpoint of technical proficiency and the quality of their instrument R&D," the report says, citing as examples H-P's "technically superior" diode array UV-VIS spectrometer and its pioneering in the field of supercritical fluid chromatography. H-P's 1983 announcement that it would participate in a joint venture with Genentech to develop instruments for biotechnology places the company in a good position to benefit from the biotechnological revolution in the coming years. The third major instrument vendor is Varian Associates, with $125 million is 1982 instrument sales. Varian is the leading supplier of nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers and an important supplier of GCs, LCs, and UV-VIS and AA spectrometers. Varian recently arranged to cooperate with Digital Equipment Corporation in developing laboratory automation
hardware and software. Fourth in annual analytical instrument sales ($110 million in 1982) is Beckman Instruments, a SmithKline Beckman company. Beckman is the leading supplier of pH meters and an important supplier of specific-ion and other electrochemical instruments, LCs, and IR, UV-VIS, and plasma source atomic emission spectrometers. Beckman also entered the data systems market recently with its acquisition of Computer Inquiry Systems. According to Frost & Sullivan, "Beckman's restructured product line is being directed at the clinical and biomedical markets, where their Astra automated clinical analyzer is a major revenue producer, along with their reagents/supplies products. Beckman's analytical instrument business will probably also be directed primarily at these applications." Companies in the industry with over $50 million in 1982 analytical instrument sales include Millipore/Waters, the leader in LC; Allied Corporation, which recently acquired Fisher Scientific and Instrumentation Laboratories; Bausch & Lomb, the leading supplier of optical emission and wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectrometers; and Finnigan MAT, a leading supplier of mass spectrometers and hyphenated mass spectrometers. Information on about a dozen other companies with 1982 instrument shipments between $20 million and $35 million is also contained in the report. "The Analytical Instrumentation Market in the U.S." (#A1284) is available for $1500 from Frost & Sullivan Inc., 106 Fulton St., New York, N.Y. 10038. Stuart A. Borman
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 56, NO. 11, SEPTEMBER 1984 • 1157 A
