Recession- a Money Vacuum

Our business is erratic at best. Because most of it is custom work, we never really know what’s the next job, and we have only the most vague ‘marketing’ predictions about what’s hot in six months. What we do have, though, is a fairly predictable ratio of system quotes to booked jobs, and this ratio is telling us that our customers are holding off spending. It’s not that our honorable competitors are getting the work – our custom engineering often means that we’re the only company willing to make just one wingwang for goose’s bridle.

Recession fear is here. Grants are not coming through, startup money is more focused than it used to be, and the big companies are not interested so much in research as in just staying solvent. Somebody out there must have some hard numbers on this problem, but we’re seeing it fairly clearly because we serve the research community.

What to do? For years, most of our detailed equipment quotes have recommended options for minor or major cost reduction. We’ll even help you identify some other source of used equipment, and outline the best approach for modifying it for your use. We’re here to facilitate your work, not to make the most profit doing it. We know we don’t have a talent for the latter! So, if you’ve got some good ideas, and are unable to find a realistic amount of money to pursue them, run your woes past us. In the art of making do, we’ve got more experience than anybody, at least since the Great Depression. Can you make a workable UHV chamber from a stainless acid carboy? RF power from a ‘ham’ transmitter? Buy a system in parts? Re-use stuff that you’ve already got? Borrow time on someone else’s system?

To be sure, these are default options, and we’re all very concerned that this country officially is willing to abandon science and technology, and unwilling to prevent declines in education, manufacturing, and innovation. For the time being, we’re fighting a losing battle, and a turnaround, if any, has an associated time constant that’s pretty long. There is just so much you can do without equipment, good people, and a clear avenue for development. So, here’s my suggestion of the day: Set aside some time, say an hour a week, to agitate for technology. This might involve letters to politicians, blog activity, attending (goodness!) policy meetings, or even volunteering at a nearby school, where, I assure you, science has been put so far back on the back burner that it’s stone cold.

The malnourished elephant’s tip of the day: Nobody is going to do it for you. The man or woman in the lab must take responsibility, or else all will be lost. Courage and creativity are ours to use.

An Elephant’s Contract

Continuing our series on how to buy a piece of equipment, we touch on the dreary matter of contracts and specifications. We do this because we’ve got an interesting impossible purchasing situation going on. Customer wants the product, has money for the product, but we can’t do a deal, and while we futz around, their project is slipping deadlines.

Because you, the researcher, doesn’t normally buy a major capital item very often, and because you don’t get to learn anything much about how your organization buys things, you can easily wind up with the low-bid you didn’t want, have outrageous administrative costs sucked out of your budget, or in some cases, not get anything at all!

Here’s what to think about…..