The task of the analytical chemist in industry

Abstract

The duties of analytical chemists extend over a wide field, covering many branches of science, and in industry, too, a considerable part of the work consists of analytical determinations. The analytical chemist himself can do much to derive more satisfaction from his more or less subservient task and at the same time to meet more appreciation of his work. Analytical work in a large laboratory consists of: testing of materials and operating control analyses, analyses required for research work, standardisation of analytical methods and analytical research. Decentralisation of this work is often recommendable, especially as regards daily control analyses. However, there should be a central department which is thoroughly acquainted with all the analytical work in the whole laboratory, which sees to it that this work is done as efficiently as possible, which gives advice as to when and where existing methods are to be applied and which tests and developes new methods. Such an “analytical centre” is the source of analytical information for the whole staff. The large number of methods for the determination of the same magnitude and the many variations in procedure for one and the same method sometimes call for standardisation, to facilitate comparison of the results of various investigators. The analytical chemists in a laboratory should also be enabled to carry out analytical research work, so as to retain the necessary freshness and keep abreast of modern developments in their field.