AZoM talks to Robert Skehens about the range of spectrophotometers at Bibby Scientific and their unique capabilities.
Can you provide a brief overview of Bibby Scientific and the markets they operate in?
Bibby Scientific is one of the largest UK based manufactures of bench top science equipment. It has a work force of 250 people. We sell our products to over 170 Countries worldwide and have our own sales offices in France, USA, Shanghai, and the Middle East.
What are some of the challenges facing the spectroscopy industry as a whole?
Some of the challenges facing the industry revolve around delivering ever more sensitive and accurate products that are smaller, so take up less bench space and are portable so can be used in the field. There is more pressure to provide simple to use instruments that non-scientific personal can operate them and interpret the results.
What types of products does Bibby Scientific produce?
We make a wide variety of bench top science equipment that help process samples by heating, cooling and agitating them, including hotplate stirrers, heating mantles and shaking incubators. In addition we also manufacture an extensive range of analytical instruments such as electrochemistry products, spectrophotometers, flame photometers, thermal cyclers and melting point apparatus.
Which industries does Bibby Scientific typically supply to?
Typical industries served include secondary and tertiary education, research institutes, testing labs as well as a whole range of industrial sectors including pharma, food and beverage and healthcare manufacturers.
Are there any new developments in the world of Spectrophotometers for Bibby Scientific?
We have recently developed a micro-volume spectrophotometer, the first of its kind in the Jenway portfolio. This spectrophotometer is capable of analyzing extremely small samples, down to 0.5µl, which is a common requirement in the life science applications.
Bibby Scientific supplies top quality lab equipment and lab products, can you provide a brief overview of the four brands under the umbrella of Bibby?
Stuart® has an extensive range of highly specialised lab equipment. The Stuart® range includes blood tube rotators, colony counters, hotplates, hybridisation ovens, rockers, shakers, stirrers and water purification systems.
Techne® is a world leader in the manufacture of temperature control equipment, including water baths, Dri-block heaters and molecular biology products such as hybridisation incubators and thermal cyclers. Techne has an entire range of lab products dedicated to the manufacture of temperature control. This range of science equipment is very specific to the particular development of controlling temperature.
The Jenway® range of scientific instruments includes UV/Vis spectrophotometers, flame photometers, colorimeters, portable and laboratory meters for the measurement of dissolved oxygen, pH and conductivity.
Electrothermal offers an extensive range of heating and stirring mantles in various shapes and capacities, control and extraction products, stirrers, melting point apparatus and STEM reaction blocks and stations. As the leaders in this sector, Electrothermal have a 70 year history of supplying specific lab equipment and products that specialise in heating, cooling and stirring technology.
How do the 73 series of Jenway Spectrophotometers differ from previous models?
The 73 Series replaced the very popular 63 Series and have a number of enhancements such as a narrower bandwidth making them more accurate, a much smaller footprint owing to the screen being mounted in the lid and a greater range of accessories. The unit is controlled via a series of intuitive icon driven menus making them completely language independent. Lastly the USB port allows unrivaled data handling.
The 73 series of Jenway Spectrophotometers has four spectrometers, how does each differ?
Spectrophotometers are used by a wide range of users with different needs: Some such as those in education need a very simple and economical visible wavelength unit with an easy to use user interface, which is covered by the 7300 model.
Basic researchers are often still only looking for a basic model but they need it to work in both the visible and the UV wavelength ranges, which is covered by the model 7305. The basic models only have two measurement modes, photometrics and concentration.
More advanced users have the choice between a visible wavelength unit, model 7310, or a UV/visible unit, model 7315. Both have the ability to not just take a single reading but can also scan a sample across a specified wavelength range.
The advanced models have five measurement modes, photometrics, concentration, spectrum scanning, quantitation and kinetics. They also have a USB port for results and method saving.
Are there any future developments within the spectrophotometer market for Bibby Scientific?
Our next new product development effort will be on constantly improving the user experience by enhancing the user interface and the PC software that people use to analyse the results generated our spectrophotometers.
About Robert Skehens
Robert Skehens is the Global Marketing Director for Bibby Scientific and has worked in the scientific industry for 20 years.
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