Smithers Rapra announced it will be expanding its existing capabilities at its U.S.-based chemistry lab with more square footage and an investment in upgraded, state-of-the-art instrumentation for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS).
Chromatographic techniques provide solutions and support for production challenges, failure diagnosis, research and development, and regulatory- or legislation-driven material testing. The new instrumentation at Smithers will expand current capacity to handle a broad range of material and sample types, as well as chemical substances from the automotive, rubber, and other industry sectors.
“Smithers is committed to offering the very best for our clients,” said Dr. Jim Popio, Vice President for North America Operations, Smithers Rapra. “This investment in upgraded instrumentation keeps us at the forefront of chemical technology developments, meaning our clients can continue to count on accurate, reliable results from our lab.”
As a recent addition to the Smithers Rapra chemistry team in Akron, senior analytical chemist Dr. Dustin Jenkins will focus on expanding the lab’s existing analytical capabilities, as well as developing and validating new testing methodologies and enhancing Smithers’ material benchmarking and characterization capabilities, which involve various chromatography and spectrometry techniques serving rubber and polymer product manufacturers.
Jenkins joins the chemistry team with over 10 years of experience in organic and inorganic chemistry in academia and research with technical expertise in GC/MS, FT-IR, time-resolved laser spectroscopy, electrochemistry, and NMR spectroscopy.
Both the upgraded instrumentation and the new hire are part of the overall strategy at Smithers, which is focused on constantly increasing overall capacity, capabilities, and expertise in analytical chemistry to support the tire, automotive, rubber and polymer product, medical device, and pharmaceutical packaging industries.