SIC 3826 Laboratory Analytical Instruments
SIC 3826
This group covers establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing laboratory instruments and instrumentation systems for chemical or physical analysis of the composition or concentration of samples of solid, fluid, gaseous, or composite material. Establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing instruments for monitoring and analyzing continuous samples from medical patients are classified in SIC 3845: Electromedical and Electrotherapeutic Apparatus; and from industrial process streams are classified in SIC 3823: Industrial Instruments for Measurement, Display, and Control of Process Variables; and Related Products.
334516
Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
Laboratory analytical instruments manufactured by this industry were used to conduct physical and chemical analyses. Major product groups included clinical laboratory, chromatographic, and spectrophotometric instruments, and mass spectrometers. In the mid-2000s, this high technology sector exported approximately 38 percent of its output, which contributed to a trade surplus in excess of $500 million. By 2003 industry shipments were worth almost $9.2 billion, and the industry's workforce numbered 33,567 employees. Although some segments of the industry were maturing, making new market growth more difficult than the rapid expansion experienced by the industry during the 1990s, advances in product design and performance continued to drive sales through the mid-2000s.
Devices used to measure the purity of gold date back to the fourth century B.C. The term "analysis," in the chemical sense, was first posited in the 1660s. A series of breakthroughs in chemical measuring methods occurred during the 1800s that preceded the development of more advanced analytic instruments later in the nineteenth century. However, it was not until the twentieth century that the industry began to resemble the state it achieved in the 1990s.
From about $3.5 billion in 1987, the first year in which this industry was recognized as a separate industrial classification, shipments of laboratory analytical instruments more than doubled to $7.2 billion by 1998. Growth continued into the 2000s, reaching $9.2 billion in 2003. U.S. technological superiority and increasing demand for analytical instruments make this an important growth industry.
One of the largest product segments in this industry is mass spectrometry instrumentation, which represented approximately 25 percent of industry shipments in the mid-2000s. This type of equipment analyzes chemicals by sorting gaseous ions in electric and magnetic fields. The two major types of mass spectroscopes are spectrographs, which use nonelectric means to detect the sorted ions, and spectrometers, which measure ions electrically. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry also was a rapidly advancing industry segment in the mid-2000s.
Chromatographic equipment is used to separate chemical substances to determine their content, or to prepare them for further testing. Chromatography instruments are applied in oil refineries and on space vehicles to analyze atmospheres on other planets. This segment accounted for approximately 12 percent of industry sales in the mid-2000s. Mass spectrometry and gas chromatography capabilities were often combined into a single instrument. GC/MS was the most widely used tandem instrument technique worldwide in the mid-2000s.
Spectrophotometric instruments represented about 10 percent of the industry's shipments in the mid-2000s. These devices are used to view, meter, and record spectrums of light or forms of radiated energy. Spectrochemical analysis usually involves the examination of radiation emission by molecules that have been heated or excited by some other form of energy, or the absorption of radiation of particular wavelengths by certain molecules.
In addition to the three major product segments, approximately 40 percent of industry sales were derived from many other devices, including a wide range of instruments made for clinical laboratories, individual parts and accessories, and other specialized instruments. Examples of specialized instruments are titrimeters, which measure the concentration of a substance in a solution; densitometers, which gauge the optical density of a material; coulometric analyzers, which detect the amount of a substance released during electrolysis; and turbidimeters, which measure the scattering of a light beam through a solution that contains suspended particulate matter. Parts, replacement components, and accessories accounted for approximately 10 percent of all revenues.
The laboratory analytical instruments industry is an international business dominated by large, innovative companies. In addition, numerous small firms compete by forming alliances or...
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