Open letter
September 19,
2006
Open Letter to Herb Kenny, Vice President, Global Commercial
Operations, Thermo Electron Corporation.
CC: ISOGEOCHEM and Micromass User List serves
Dear Mr. Kenny,
The recent acquisition of GV Instruments Limited by Thermo Electron
Corporation represents a major change in the landscape of
instrumentation for stable isotope mass spectrometry. The
measurement community has received your letter of July 21, 2006 in
which you announce the acquisition of GVI's product line and assure
us that "during the integration period and beyond", Thermo will be
dedicated to providing us with advanced solutions, robust products and
world-class customer service. We feel your letter deserves a
response from the customer base into which you have placed yourselves,
and hope that we can stimulate some discussion around this
issue.
As researchers who have developed measurement programs based on GVI
mass spectrometers, there are a number of things that are of concern
to us.
First, while it may be true that there are other manufacturers of
stable isotope mass spectrometers, the reality is that more than 95%
of the research community uses either Finnigan or GVI mass
spectrometers. Some labs have used several brands of mass
spectrometers, while others have chosen a single brand for simplicity
of training staff, consumable costs, and development work. Both
instrument lineages have played key roles in major advances in
knowledge across numerous disciplines. Universities and governments
have invested millions of dollars into research programs, utilizing
Isoprimes. It is critical for many research programs that the support
for both of these platforms continues well into the future.
Collaborating with end users on innovations has been a fruitful
two way street for both manufacturer and researchers alike. Our
experience with GVI in particular has been that the Isoprime platform
exhibits considerable flexibility in application and that the company
as a whole has demonstrated a willingness to respond quickly and
specifically to users needs.
One example is with the laboratory of Peggy and Nathaniel Ostrom at
Michigan State University, where GVI modified the instrument after the
order was placed to enable an Isoprime to simultaneously monitor all
of the masses of interest for nitrous oxide isotopomers (30, 31, 44,
45, and 46) and thus provided the first commercial instrument of this
capability. Furthermore, the MassLynx software was rapidly
modified to meet this specific need. Similarly, a close
association between one of us (Ralph Keeling) and GVI resulted in the
construction of a novel sample introduction system that enabled rapid
and highly precise determinations of O2/Ar and N2/Ar in air, an
important measure of global change, that would be extremely difficult
to perform on other existing instruments (Keeling et al., 2004 Tellus
56B: 322-338).
The continued success of many research programs will rely on the
ability of Thermo Electron to continue this level of support and
flexibility. The importance of this issue is illustrated by the
16-year-old and ongoing global monitoring of green house gases project
at the University of Colorado that produces extremely valuable data to
the global research community. The methodology for this work has
been built upon GVI mass specs, and it is critical that the level of
engineering support from the manufacturer continue if the program is
to have continuity and remain a cornerstone of our understanding of
global climate change.
Together, we are hoping to hear from you a stronger message of
commitment that you will continue to support this line of product.
This would mean keeping key senior engineering personnel on board to
deal with ongoing issues in both hardware and software. We are very
concerned when we hear of possible lay-offs of GVI employees who have
been fundamental to the success of our research by providing high
quality customer support and individual attention. Does Thermo
have an effective and viable plan to assist in the maintenance of the
large number of VG, Fisons, and GVI instruments that remain in
operation? Perhaps one of the greatest assets of GVI and its
former companies was a willingness to provide service in a
constructive manner and at reasonable prices, which is probably one of
the most important contributors to customer loyalty. Will Thermo
continue this standard?
Furthermore, we remain concerned regarding maintenance of software
platforms. The majority of Isoprimes currently in operation run on the
MassLynx software platform that has evolved into a powerful system,
which puts great flexibility and information in the hands of users.
While some users have little interest in much of the capabilities of
MassLynx, the many of us who are involved in technique development
find it a wonderful platform for innovation. As noted above,
this innovation has often fed back into new instrumentation (and
sales) by GV. While it is clear that MassLynx cannot be
maintained for copyright reasons, it is our hope that capabilities of
this software and personnel qualified to assist users will continue to
be an integral part of the company.
Stable isotopes have numerous up-and-coming applications for climate
change studies, ecology, forensics, and many other fields, and we hope
that Thermo will encourage the development of the use of isotopes in
these fields by keeping the instrumentation affordable, despite the
current lack of competition. We hope that your goals not be simply in
dollar signs but will remain in step with those of most of your
clients - serving science and society.
We look forward from hearing more news and information from you and
from Thermo concerning developments associated with the acquisition of
GVI, and we look forward to working with Thermo in the future.
Signed:
Bruce H. Vaughn
Senior Scientist, INSTAAR, University of Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Nathaniel E. Ostrom, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Zoology
Michigan State University
Ralph F. Keeling
Professor, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
University of California, San Diego
Eric Steig
Associate Professor, Earth and Space Sciences
University of Washington
Carol Kendall
U.S. Geological Survey
Menlo Park, California
(Personal view may not reflect that of the employer)
Leonard I. Wassenaar
Research Scientist
Envionment Canada
(Personal view may not reflect that of the employer)
Leonel da S. L. Sternberg
Department of Biology
University of Miami
Stephen Macko
Professor, Environmental Sciences
University of Virginia
Valerie Claymore
GNS Science
Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Simon Poulson
Research Associate Professor
Dept. of Geological Sciences & Engineering
University of Nevada - Reno
Karl Kreutz
Associate Professor,Climate Change Institute and Department of Earth
Sciences
University of Maine
Oreno, Maine
Pamela Gemery-Hill
Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey
Lakewood, Colorado
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