3M has announced the launch of 3M Analytical Services, which forms part of the company's portfolio of service capabilities in electronic and chemical solutions.

3M has announced the launch of 3M Analytical Services, which forms part of the company's portfolio of service capabilities in electronic and chemical solutions. Providing access to the company's extensive RandD resources for the first time, the services are available to companies - not just existing 3M customers - particularly in the areas of health and safety, design, assembly and manufacture. The services can be used to identify problems with a product or process; ensure that legislation or certification requirements are being met; or to analyse and improve existing product materials.

The new services eliminate the need for the customer to have any kind of scientific knowledge or understanding of the complexity of analytical testing.

An easy-to-use tool that 3M application engineers can run through with a customer asks a series of questions that lead towards a practical test or series of tests that could help solve customers' problems.

Mark Nursall, technical specialist, 3M UK explains, 'A company may come to us and ask for help in, for example, identifying the source of a particular odour, or ask us to find out why a product is not performing as expected, or indeed to benchmark two products.

We just need customers to tell us what their problem is - we do not expect them to have the technical knowledge necessary to specify what tests they want us to carry out - they can leave that to us.

This means our services are accessible to a far wider audience.' Based at the company's laboratories in Bracknell, UK, 3M Analytical Services consists of a team of experienced chemists and other experts, backed up by a range of highly sophisticated analytical devices, equipment and systems, representing a substantial investment by 3M in the UK.

Equipment includes an extractive FT-IR for real-time analysis of gases, an X-ray photoelectron spectrometer for surface analysis, and a canister-based system for analysing air samples and odours.

3M is one of only a very small number of UKAS* approved laboratories that are accredited to test and evaluate whole air samples for air quality for health and safety purposes.

3M Analytical Services draw on the extensive analytical resources that 3M has developed over the years in the UK.

The services now form part of the growing range of 3M products in the electronics and chemicals market.