Innovation, Automation, and Simplification in the World of Chemicals Analysis

Before Analytica 2024, the Italian magazine Techno Lab interviewed Marco Tornatore, KPM sales director - southern-Europe & France,  about KPM Analytics and its brand AMS Alliance, discussing how they bring innovation, automation, and simplification to the world of chemical analysis.

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CAN YOU PROVIDE A BRIEF COMPANY PROFILE?

Since 2017, AMS Alliance has been part of KPM Analytics. It boasts a strong and successful history, originating from the merger of Alliance Instruments (France) and AMS (Rome). Alliance Instruments, a key player in Continuous Flow Analytical technologies, began in 1987 inspired by the Technicon® range. For over 30 years, they have optimized Segmented Flow Analysis solutions. AMS initially specialized in Clinical Chemistry with its renowned auto-analyzers and later expanded into industrial analytical markets with its family of Discrete Analyzers (colorimetric). AMS Alliance continues working in both clinical and industrial markets with various solutions. In the clinical field, AMS has developed strong, long-lasting relationships with key players in the diagnostics industry, with one of its clinical chemistry analyzers being a preferred choice for one of the IVD market leaders for over 15 years. In the analytical market, AMS Alliance products are well-present in different sectors such as academia, environmental, agrochemical, food testing, and other industrial areas. SmartChem® (Discrete Analyzers) and FUTURA (Segmented Flow Analyzers) are well-recognized products in the industry, with special mention to seawater testing, where SmartChem® analyzers are a preferred choice for Oceanographic Research Vessels worldwide, and FUTURA is utilized in key research centers. Additionally, SmartChem® has become a preferred choice for commercial laboratories thanks to its reliability, ease of use, and efficiency.

WHAT ARE THE CURRENT MARKET TRENDS?

Today's market shows a tendency towards automation and process simplification. Laboratories are becoming more specialized, impacting resource allocation towards certain tests and techniques. This requires instrumentation to be easier to use for operators and to have a simpler learning curve for new analysts. The demand for efficiency and operativity is crucial to ensure the laboratory's workload is performed in a timely manner. Easy-to-use, process automation-capable software is key for laboratories, both commercial and non-commercial, to ensure analysts' time is devoted to value-added activities and to maintain traceability within the laboratory's operations. For this purpose, AMS Alliance does not outsource its software development activities. Instead, they are handled internally, ensuring that engineers, scientists, and application development chemists can continuously improve our software and respond to market requirements almost in real time.

WHAT PRODUCTS ARE YOU PRESENTING AT ANALYTICA 2024?

At Analytica, we are proud to present two key products. First, we are reintroducing our SmartChem®600 high-throughput analyzer, which is becoming a preferred choice for commercial laboratories and has recently been appointed as the instrument of choice for ALS, with installations in the UK, Australia, Thailand, and Hong Kong. The SmartChem®600 addresses the need to replace aging, discontinued high-throughput analyzers, becoming the new instrument of choice for laboratories requiring a high-throughput, fully walk-away solution for their day-to-day operations.

Additionally, we are presenting our new Segmented Flow Analyzer console, NexaFlo. NexaFlo is the result of years of activity in Continuous Flow Analysis, collecting feedback from various users, opinion leaders, researchers, engineers, and application development chemists. NexaFlo embodies KPM's desire to lead the market through technological and scientific excellence, ensuring the right minds are involved in new projects.

WHAT NEW PROJECTS ARE IN THE PIPELINE?

Focusing on the automation and simplification of analytical solutions for operators, KPM and its brand AMS Alliance are currently working on several projects aimed at improving laboratory operations. These projects focus on both automation and the simplification of specific techniques that new chemists often perceive as cumbersome and complex. Our upcoming solutions will ensure that techniques requiring long training periods and steep learning curves are adapted to today's fast learning requirements. They will implement the right degree of automation to ensure that achieving the best results does not entail overly complicated processes in the laboratory. Our goal is to simplify analytical processes, allowing resources to focus on high value-added activities.

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