Instrument Makers Set Confident Tone

Brighter economic prospects set instrument industry on a path to stronger sales in 2014

Science mavens come to the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry & Applied Spectroscopy—Pittcon, for short—looking for new technology and new ways to solve analytical problems. Among the new product introductions at the forum, held earlier this month in Chicago, were microfluidic devices, productivity tools, benchtop nuclear magnetic resonance instruments, and semiconductor-controlled technologies.

Frigid weather conditions and flight cancellations interrupted visitors’ travel plans this year, and so just 16,225 people made it to the Windy City for the annual instrumentation confab. More than 18,000 people attended the gathering last year in Philadelphia.

But attendance at Pittcon doesn’t determine the economic fortunes of the manufacturers that exhibit there. And instrument company executives in Chicago were more bullish about their business prospects than they were last year at this time because of improving economies in the U.S. and Europe.

In the U.S. as well as overseas, pent-up demand for health sciences instrumentation means spending in the segment is likely to improve along with economic conditions, according to Arthur G. Caputo, executive vice president of instrument manufacturer Waters Corp.