This editorial website includes personal observations by Masa Eto on an array of topics, from world affairs to business. Mr. Eto is the international division director at A&D Company Ltd.

When we introduced our FX Series onto the world market, we created a nice looking brochure and poster featuring our FX-200 weighing a liquid in a beaker inside the breeze break chamber. At the time, the FX had the most advanced electronic circuitry with highly integrated IC chips. It had less than half the number of components of the competitors' models at that time. It made a big splash and scared the competitors, for competitors like Sartorius had to develop M1 Technology, which was essentially what we did with FX Series, and Mettler had to introduce their basic series to be competitive with A&D. This is my personal view anyway, since we could not tell how those competitors actually viewed our FX. During our exhibition of the FX at Pittcon 1987 ( Pittcon is the largest laboratory equipment exhibition in the USA ) , a professor approached me and, in a way, began accusing me, saying: "I keep telling those balance manufacturers that it is wrong. This is not the way to weigh a liquid precisely."

I could not understand his point at first. He kept saying, "Balance manufacturers should teach the correct way to measure. If you have a liquid exposed to the atmosphere, it keeps evaporating, and you can never weigh it accurately." I came to realize that he was saying, unless a container has a lid or a cover the liquid evaporates and you can never weigh it correctly. "Yes, sir, I guess you are right."

That was all I could say. Being newcomers to the balance market, we had no time to worry about how a liquid should be weighed. Since then, his voice comes back once in a while, telling us that "manufacturers must educate their customers how to use the instruments accurately." Bringing them to the market is not enough.

Training is a part of consultative selling, and now A&D includes a wide assortment of training materials and seminars in this process. Yes, training is a part of our selling and an important part of our business now. Thank you Professor, we have taken your advice seriously.

Incidentally, I was somewhat suspicious about the effect of evaporation in real terms, and did some simple experimenting with water. As it was conducted in an office environment, it was by no means a controlled experiment. The results showed that over a period of one minute, roughly 1.2mg of water evaporated from a beaker one inch (2.54cm) in diameter.

While this appears to be negligible when using a one milligram balance, if the measurement is done within 30 seconds or so; it does effect the accuracy if a measurement is conducted over a long period of time.

[The ambient temperature was 23 degrees C. Humidity was 35%, and atmospheric pressure was 1020 hPa]

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