Atlantic Technology Group Additional Services

We have written previously about the contribution of a technical sales representative and the added value he or she can bring to the purchase of a physical product. With a daunting array of potential product variants available, it can be difficult and time consuming to reach a knowledge level that enables a confident selection of laboratory equipment for a specialized application. The tech sales rep's knowledge of currently available products and their application virtues and limitations can speed the selection process and contribute to a positive outcome for all stakeholders.

At the company level, many technical representatives commit to bringing factory level training resources to their customers. Reading instruction manuals can often fail to instill real understanding about the application, use, and upkeep of complex laboratory gear. Plus, manuals provide only one way communication. Training conducted by experienced, knowledgeable, factory trained individuals can instill almost tangible levels of comprehension in operators, users, and supporters of laboratory and process equipment.

Field services, in the form of start-up, calibration, repair, or regular maintenance of instruments and equipment are also provided by many technical sales firms. Again, bringing to bear broad experience and factory level training, technical representatives can function as an efficient outsource or reference for essential tasks that may require special skills or knowledge. Repair, whether in-house or facilitated through the factory, is another way in which technical representatives leverage their experience and knowledge into offerings that bring value to their customer base.

Face it, if all that was needed was quick delivery of lab equipment, Amazon.com would be your primary supplier. These are sophisticated instruments, apparatus, and equipment, requiring skill, knowledge, and experience to assure proper selection, installation and operation. A good technical rep firm knows that its customers need more than a product in a box or crate. It's results that count, and Atlantic Technology Group is committed to assisting customers wherever ATG's expertise can help leverage positive outcomes for their customers.

Make Good Use of the Technical Sales Representative

When faced with a challenge on your project, get people
involved with expertise that you may lack.

Laboratory and process equipment are often sold with the support of sales engineers working for the local distributor or representative. Realizing what these specialists have to contribute, taking advantage of their knowledge and talent, will help save time and cost, contributing to a better project outcome.

Consider these contributions:

Product Knowledge: Sales engineers, by the nature of their job, are current on new products, their capabilities and their proper application. Unlike information available on the Web, sales engineers get advanced notice of product obsolescence and replacement. Also, because they are exposed to so many different types of applications and situations, sales engineers are a wealth of tacit knowledge that they readily share with their customers.

Experience: As a project engineer or leader, you may be treading on fresh ground regarding some aspects of your current assignment. You may not have a full grasp on how to handle a particular challenge presented by a project. Call in the local sales person - there can be real benefit in connecting to a source with past exposure to your current issue.

Access: Through a technical sales engineer, you may be able to look “behind the scenes” with a particular manufacturer and garner important information not publicly available. Sales reps deal with people, making connections between customers and manufacturer's support personnel who may not normally be public facing. They make it their business to know what’s going on with products, companies, and industries.

Of course, sales engineers will be biased. Any solutions proposed are likely to be based upon the products sold by the representative. But the best sales people will share the virtues of their products openly and honestly, and even admit when they don’t have the right product. This is where the discussion, consideration and evaluation of several solutions become part of achieving the best project outcome.

Whatever your stake in an upcoming or ongoing project, it's highly recommended you develop a professional, mutually beneficial relationship with a technical sales expert, a problem solver. Look at a relationship with the local sales engineer as symbiotic. Their success, and your success, go hand-in-hand.

Modular Wall Systems as Barrier Wall in Wash Area

Laboratory animal cage wash area, clean side.
Image courtesy Avant Garde Scientific

There are many instances in laboratory facilities and other industrial processing sites of a need for isolation between one phase of a process and another. In laboratory animal care facilities, there is a pronounced need for isolation of the entry side of cage, rack, and ware cleaning from the exit side.

The entry side is commonly called the dirty side, since items entering that area are destined to be cleaned. The exit side is known as the clean side. It is good practice to not only install a physical barrier between the two sides, but also to establish procedures to assure that personnel, carts, or other equipment does not transit from dirty to clean side without first being properly treated.

Barrier walls are architectural building features, but almost an integral part of the equipment installed in the cage washing area. The walls and machines must be properly mated to provide an impenetrable seal that disallows passage of fluids, even air and vapor, from the dirty side to the clean side. Accomplishing this requires a considerable degree of care in the coordination of cage washing or sterilizing equipment configuration and building features at the installation site. The role of the barrier wall is essentially to fill in all the gaps between the machinery and the building features, providing the positive seal and barrier that is needed.

Materials of construction for the barrier wall should accommodate the type of service and operation anticipated for the cage wash area. Gaskets, fasteners and surface materials need to withstand repeated exposure to cleaning and sanitizing agents that may be employed in the area. The surface of the wall, often stainless steel, as well as the supporting structure, needs to be of sufficient thickness and strength to withstand the inevitable impact of heavy wheeled carts or other potentially damaging items.

Cage wash areas, once completed, will be depended upon to provide continuous service for many years. The barrier wall should be specified, designed and installed with that timeline in mind. Share your laboratory animal cage washing challenges with process specialists, combining your own knowledge and experience with their product application expertise to develop an effective solution.

Esco IsoClean Pharmacy Isolators

Drug compounding at pharmacy facilities presents a potential source of contamination, as well as a hazard to the compounding technician as well. IsoClean Pharmacy Isolators provide a physical barrier between the compounding materials and the surrounding environment. Product and operator protection are maintained using one of several appropriate product configurations designed to accommodate the specific needs of compounding processes.

The video provides an overview of the various product configurations, how the they work to provide the appropriate protection for operations employing hazardous and non-hazardous materials. Share your operational requirements with an application expert for help in selecting the best product configuration for your application range.

Activated Carbon in Water Purification

Activated carbon may be an essential part
of almost any water purification system.
Photo Courtesy of Elga Lab Water

Activated carbon is utilized as a processing or purification step in many water purification systems. It's effectiveness in removing a range of organic compounds from raw water supplies is well known.

Carbon, of course, is a very common earthly element. Activated carbon, also called activated charcoal, often uses charcoal as processing feedstock. Special processing produces a very porous material with a very large effective surface area. The expanded surface area increases the carbon's capacity for adsorption, the collecting of molecules, atoms, or ions on the surface layer of the activated carbon. Activated carbon excels at adsorbing a variety of organic compounds often found in raw or municipal water supplies.

Laboratory applications using purified water will generally include at least one step that targets the removal of organic impurities. Depending on the targeted final water quality, the size of the system, and several other factors, activated carbon may play an important role.

There are numerous water purification technologies in use throughout industrial, commercial, residential, and laboratory settings. Determining the best combination and implementation of these technologies to produce the desired water quality with high reliability and reasonable cost is the job of equipment application specialists. Share your water quality and usage requirements with them for effective solutions.