SIS Manufacturing--History

Scientific Instrument Services is not your average precision machining company. We began our operations as a scientific instrument service company that migrated into the machining business. SIS has a strong background in the scientific instrument and medical market and we have a strong commitment to this market. We are aware of the unique requirements of this professional market; the requirement of precision machining, the need of fine finishes, and the importance of cleanliness of the finished products. As a result we have not only expanded our machine shop with the latest technology in computer controlled machine shop equipment but we have installed other technology to serve these additional requirements of the scientific and medical markets. These services include a Cleaning Shop which contains sandblasting equipment, tumblers, electropolishing and passivation, to provide the best finishes for you machined parts. We have a welding and brazing shop to weld parts to vacuum tightness specifications and an assembly shop to assemble parts into completed assemblies. We have also installed a multi-stations high purity ultrasonic water cleaning system to provide ultra clean finished parts.

Scientific Instrument Services has been in business since January 1978. During that time our staff has increased from 2 persons in 1978 our present staff of about 30 people. Our first catalog back in 1978 was a 4 page flyer which included filament repair, gold gasket fabrication and direct probe sample vials. Our current catalog is more than 450 pages long and includes a wide range of services and supplies for mass spectrometers, gas chromatographs, liquid chromatographs and other scientific instruments. Our facilities have likewise grown, from a garage operation to our present facility with over 10,000 square feet of space. Plans are now in place to expand these facilities in the near future. This growth has been the result of a lot of hard work and dedication from our employees and the input and support from our many customers. Without their help and support our growth and success would not be possible.

SIS is a multi-faceted company in that we distribute scientific supplies to the scientific market via a catalog, we also design and manufacture accessories for scientific instrument instruments and finally we do manufacturing as an OEM for a large number of companies in the scientific and medical market. This diversity of operations has enable SIS to continue to grow and survive with changing economic conditions and market changes.

In 1978 John had been employed by the New Jersey State Police Lab as a Principal Forensic Chemist for more than 12 years. In this position he was responsible for the Research and Development as well as the operation of the Mass Spectrometer and scientific instrument lab, technical publishing of articles, teaching and training , development of new methods of analysis based on specific criminal cases and testifying as to the results of analysis in court. In this position he was responsible for the maintenance and operation of all the analytical instruments. Eventually through contacts in the scientific community, he began to repair filaments and other mass spectrometer parts for other local spectrometer users. Out of these experiences grew the foundations of Scientific Instrument Services.

In 1978 SIS was founded in Pennington, NJ. Some advertising was done via a 4 page flyer designed and mailed to a list of about 1000 mass spectrometer users. Many customers encouraged our growth, asking us to carry additional supplies and services such as vacuum hose, pump oils, o-rings, jet separators, electron multipliers, ion gauge tubes and other mass spec related supplies. We found sources for these products, established dealerships and began to add them to our catalog.

In 1979 we hired our first employee and second catalog was 32 pages long and was mailed to about 200 customers who had requested it. It included many of the new products our customers had asked us to add to our product line. By that time we had about 10 distributor agreements with manufacturers of these accessories. The resulting sales volume required us to add two more part time employees to our staff in 1980 to handle the phone calls as well as package orders, ship orders and order inventory.

In 1981 we then moved to rented facilities in Pennington. These facilities incorporated about 1000 square feet in an industrial park. We relocated both our office and repair facilities at this new location.

Chris Baker (our current Vice President) joined our staff in 1983 to help with the repair of filaments and to provide additional ideas and input for the expansion of the company. Chris and John worked with customers to solve their repair and service needs and to expand the product line for our customer needs. The office and shop staff was expanded every year so that by the end of 1983 our total staff numbered 9 persons.

In 1984 we hired our own graphic artist and bought our own typesetter. We redesigned and expanded our scientific supplies catalog. This first major SIS catalog in 1984 was more than 150 pages in length. By 1986 the catalog grew to almost 300 pages in length. These expanded catalogs presented a more professional image for our company and as a result, out sales of supplies and services continued to expand.

In the fall of 1984 we moved to our present building in Ringoes, New Jersey. This new building gave us more than 2000 square feet of office and shop space to further expand our capabilities. Within two years we began to outgrow these facilities and therefore we added an addition of the right side of the building to give us a total area of about 4500 square feet. During this time our staff also increased with the addition of 5 more people by December of 1987 in our shop facilities to handle our increased volume of filament repairs and other parts manufacture. By 1987 our catalog was over 300 pages in length and included many new products for the scientific instrument laboratory.

The shop facilities also continued to expand under the leadership of Chris Baker. The shop consisted of 5 people in 1987. In addition to filament repair, we now were performing a number of other types of repairs and manufacturing including welding, machining and glass working. We were redesigning mass spec filaments, sample vials and other mass spectrometer parts. Much new equipment was added including a TIG welder to enable us to do vacuum welding.

In 1988 the direction of the company changed slightly with a greater emphasis on manufacturing of our own designs of filaments for mass spectrometers. Using our past experience of repairs tens of thousands of filaments we were able to improve upon the design of existing manufacturers filaments. As a result we were able to design and manufacture our own filaments for the Dupont, Finnigan and Hewlett Packard Mass Spectrometers. We began to actively market and sell these filaments.

By 1989 various mass spectrometer instrument manufacturers had contacted us about manufacturing filaments for their instruments. The SIS designed and manufactured filaments were gaining a reputation as quality replacement filaments for mass spectrometers. This began a new direction for SIS during which time we became a major manufacturer of filaments for the scientific instrument companies. By 1996 we were making about 6 different styles of filaments for various instrument manufacturers for a number of mass spectrometers and other scientific related equipment. This are of OEM manufacturing has been a major growth area for SIS over the past 6 or 7 years.

During this time we began our expansion into the machine shop. We had purchased a small metal lathe and table top mill several years earlier. We added several milling machines and a lathe to our shops to enable us to machine vacuum pump parts and make additional parts that were required to repair and service the scientific instruments for our customers. We hired our first machinist and also added CAD capabilities to our facilities.

In 1991 we began working with Dr Tom Hartman of Rutgers University Food Science Department. Together we developed and patented the Short Path Thermal Desorption System. This accessory for a GC and GC/MS permits the thermal extraction and analysis of volatile and semi-volatile organic chemicals in a variety of materials including food products, pharmaceuticals and industrial products. Over the years, SIS continued to re-engineer this product to serve the needs of the scientific market. The system is now automated and computer controlled. At the same time SIS has designed and developed a Cryo-Trap and a number of direct probes for use with various scientific instruments.

In 1999 SIS made a second major expansion to our facilities. A new wing consisting of about 5,000 square feet of shop space was added to the building. The new shops included filament repair shops, a welding shop, an assembly shop, a cleaning shop and a product development shop. With the additional space we were able to increase our staff size and add new equipment to our shops. A major emphasis was made to expand the machining capabilities of our machine shop and added staff to man the equipment. To date we have invested about $2,000,000 in equipment for all of our shops. This equipment includes several CNC turning centers, mills and many other pieces of equipment as described in the facilities section of these pages.

In 2000 SIS hired a quality control manager and began the process of applying for ISO certification. In 2001 SIS received its ISO 9000-2001 Certification for all of our shops as well as our order processing operations. Quality is of prime importance to SIS and our customers and we continue to assure that we provide products made to the customers requirements.

In 2006, Scientific Instrument Services purchased a new machine shop facility in Plumsteadville, PA in order to expand its custom machining capabilities. The new 10,000 square foot facility contains a wide array of computer controlled (CNC) lathes, mills, screw machines and other metal machining equipment. This new facility will enable SIS to expand its custom and OEM machining and manufacture of precision parts for the scientific, medical and industrial markets in order to meet our ever increasing customer requirements for precision machining.

Additional planning is under way to further expand our machine shop. As our business expands, we see the need for additional equipment and staff as well as additional space in which to house these resources. SIS is committed to reinvest for the future of the company to better serve the need of our customers.

S.I.S. also manufacturers instrument parts for scientific instrument companies. Our specialty are filaments for mass spectrometers, x-ray equipment and other instruments utilizing a filament heater or emission wire. We can custom design and manufacture filaments to your needs from 10 to 10,000 units. It is the support of our customers that has enabled this expansion. It is the desire of the S.I.S. staff to be able to consistently provide our customers with the products and services requested in the fastest, most efficient manner.

A growing part of our business is OEM manufacturing. We now make something for almost every large mass spectrometer company. Contact us for information about our OEM programs.