Laboratory opening ceremony with hammer stroke
“Excellence in Science” on 1,500 m2: World and European premieres
It could not have been planned better: 150 guests from all over Europe were greeted by bright sunshine and luminous cherry blossoms at the opening of Shimadzu’s new Laboratory World. According to Japanese culture, flowering cherries symbolize an awakening – the theme for this day that included an opening ceremony with representatives from business and politics, a Japanese Kagamiwari ceremony, a guided tour through the laboratories as well as world and European premieres of new products.
After short speeches from Akira Nakamoto, CEO of Shimadzu Corporation, the Japanese Consul General Kiyoshi Koinuma, Duisburg’s Mayor Sören Link as well as Yasuo Miura, President of Shimadzu Europa, they cut the ribbon together and officially opened the new Laboratory World. Subsequent guided tours through the laboratory and seminar facilities were accompanied by live demonstrations of selected applications and technologies at seven different stations. Four product premieres also received center stage.
Kagamiwari ceremony with hammer stroke and rice wine
The inauguration of the Laboratory World was concluded with a Japanese Kagamiwari ceremony. The lid of a keg of Sake was smashed with wooden hammers, resulting in a delightful spray of the rice wine. A mutual ‘Kanpai’ (toast) in wooden sake bowls with all guests completed the ceremony. Newspaper and television journalists were present and have reported on this event.
In the following days, from 15 – 19 April, customers of Shimadzu’s European branches were introduced to the ‘Laboratory World’ featuring individual product segments.
On over 1,500 m2, testing facilities were created for Shimadzu’s entire product range – from chromatographs, spectrophotometers, TOC analyzers, mass spectrometers and balances up to material testing machines. Mass spectrometry is presented in its own area. Shimadzu has significantly advanced this technology in recent years. In addition, laboratory areas for customer applications and seminar facilities have been expanded. Shimadzu has invested a total of 3,2 million Euros in the expansion of its laboratory and training facilities.
“During the entire week, we have welcomed more than 200 customers”, explained Jürgen Kwass, Managing Director of Shimadzu Europa. “The facilities at our Laboratory World are designed in such a way that there are dedicated areas for discussion and exchange of ideas in addition to the spacious product and laboratory stations. Shimadzu anticipates that due to the extended consumer and product safety regulations, the testing and analysis needs – and consequently the need for training – will continue to increase in the future.
One world and three european premieres
In addition to the new ‘Laboratory World’, Shimadzu has introduced four new products:
- the high-speed Hyper Vision HPV-X camera. Thanks to the world’s fastest sensor with 10 million frames/sec (Mfps), the camera records phenomena during shock waves or in machining processes (see article on page 18).
- the HS-20 headspace sampler for gas chromatography for accurate analysis of volatile and semi-volatile compounds in a wide boiling point range
- the Nexera X2 UHPLC system with the world’s most sensitive photodiode-array detector for routine analyses and applications in highly regulated environments (see article on page 8)
- the highly sensitive Tracera gas chromatograph, which can detect virtually all traces of organic and inorganic compounds due to novel plasma technology – about 100 times more sensitive than the universal TCD and twice as sensitive as the FID (see article on page 4).
