Keeping laboratories running for 30 years: the story of LC Services

When engineer Colin Bootman arrived one day at a customer’s laboratory to carry out a service visit, he had no idea of the inspiration it would spark.

The fault had been described as an autosampler problem, so he set to work – but the system refused to co-operate.

It was only when he asked if he could also check the detector that he was able to get everything running again. It was a small moment – but it planted a significant idea.

Colin had only been trained on Gilson equipment, yet the laboratory he was standing in – like most analytical laboratories of the time – ran instruments from multiple manufacturers. Each was covered by a separate service contract, each requiring a new engineer arriving at a different time.

The thought that struck him was straightforward: “Wouldn’t it be great to offer service on the autosampler, the pump and the detector – plus add in parts – all at the same time?”

If a single company could offer that across all a laboratory’s equipment, the benefit to the customer would be considerable. That observation became LC Services.

Incorporated 30 years ago, the company has spent three decades making good on that founding promise: one trusted partner, whatever the instrument, whatever the brand.

One engineer, one idea

The gap Colin had identified was real.

Large pharmaceutical companies at the time were managing nine or more separate service contracts across their laboratory equipment, co-ordinating different engineers, varying schedules and all kinds of call-out procedures for machines that often worked in sequence with one another.

The inefficiency was striking – and no one was addressing it.

LC Services set out to change that. By training engineers across multiple brands and instrument types – not just the equipment of a single manufacturer – the company could offer something the market didn’t yet have: genuinely comprehensive cover from a single, independent provider.

The early years

The business that would eventually grow into one of the UK’s leading independent chromatography service providers began modestly.

Operations ran from a small, two-up-two-down building – with Colin spending long days (12 hours or more) visiting customer sites himself.

The client base in those early years was largely pharmaceutical, with laboratories running HPLC systems that needed servicing.

Word soon spread quickly, however – the proposition was straightforward and the need was genuine.

As the company grew, so did the team – more engineers to cover the visits and more administrative support to handle the calls and the contracts that came with a growing client base.

Growing with the industry

The 2002 redevelopment of LC Services’ headquarters in Turvey marked a turning point.

By that stage, analytical laboratories were no longer just running HPLC systems – gas chromatography and, increasingly, mass spectrometry were becoming fixtures of laboratory life, with the range of instruments requiring specialist service expertise expanding considerably.

And LC Services expanded with it: purpose-built laboratory space was created to accommodate the full breadth of chromatography disciplines the team now worked across, while in-house repair and refurbishment capability was developed alongside the field service operation.

Attending the Pittcon trade show in the USA brought a further realisation: that the equipment LC Services was supporting was the same equipment laboratories were running around the world – and that the demand for independent parts and support had no natural border.

A global parts supply followed, along with the capability to supply refurbished equipment to customers internationally.

The company that had started with a single engineer covering a single brand type was now something altogether more substantial.

Today, LC Services runs a team of 15 engineers – seven in the field and eight working in-house – covering the full breadth of service solutions the company offers.

Meeting the challenges head-on

Of course, not every chapter has been straightforward.

One of the most significant challenges has been the restrictions that some original equipment manufacturers place on proprietary parts, limiting independent service providers’ access to the components their customers need.

Rather than accept that limitation, however, LC Services responded by developing the capability to reverse engineer and manufacture alternative parts – ensuring customers were not left without options simply because of commercial restrictions placed elsewhere in the supply chain.

Meeting customer demand for all-inclusive service contracts while running a sustainable business model has required careful calibration too – and it is a balance LC Services continues to refine as the range of instruments and customer needs evolves.

Both challenges speak to the same underlying quality: a willingness to find solutions rather than accept the constraints others set.

The next 30 years

If the first three decades of LC Services have been defined by expansion – from one brand to many, from one discipline to several, from a domestic operation to one serving customers globally – the next chapter is already taking shape.

“We see the next chapter expanding into single and triple quadrupole mass spectrometry,” says Colin – a discipline that reflects where analytical science is heading and where service demand is growing.

The principle is the same one that has guided LC Services since that first moment of clarity in a customer’s lab: as the instruments advance, so does the service that supports them.

Thirty years on, the commitment at the centre of it all is exactly what it was when Colin Bootman first asked if he could take a look at that detector – whatever it takes to always keep the laboratory running.

How can we help to always keep your laboratory running? Contact us here to see how we can help.