A Case for Non-automated Simplicity

摘要

Working in customer service, I have heard stories from clients about their experiences with various instruments. One situation in particular that caught my interest was of a customer who had three identical instruments, all around 6-years-old. One instrument had been used for parts since the beginning to keep the other two instruments running and, as such, was never operational itself. When one of the two remaining units started to fail, the customer had to pay travel expenses to fly a repair technician from the manufacturer out to their site. The technician was ultimately unable to fix the instrument, and suggested purchasing a new unit. The customer was frustrated and now had to push twice as many samples through their one remaining machine, leading to processing delays and overtime for workers. They were talking about returning to running samples manually on a basic instrument. The basic instrument took more time and labor per sample, but the instrument was more reliable and was believed to be less costly overall. The customer had not considered instrument lifespan and maintenance costs in their initial purchase.