Today’s chromatography landscape moves faster than ever. Workloads continue to rise while many laboratories operate with smaller teams and tighter timelines. In conversation with host David Oliva, Jim Gearing, Associate Vice President of Marketing for Agilent Technologies’ Gas Phase Division, shares how intelligent GC and GC/MS systems evolve to meet those demands.
New Users, New Expectations
Gearing describes a dramatic shift in who operates instruments and what they expect from them. Many younger analysts “just want the system to work,” approaching their GC like a smartphone. They use the tool to get a job done without needing to understand every mechanical detail. At the same time, laboratories expect more throughput, more uptime, and faster answers—often with fewer staff on the floor.
Gearing sees the impact firsthand. “You go into a lab and there’s one or two people for a whole room full of instruments,” he explains. Yet those teams must meet critical turnaround times that may determine regulatory compliance, material release, or lost revenue.
Where Fast Answers Matter
Across industries—from chemical plants to energy refineries to environmental compliance—analytical results drive time-sensitive decisions. Gearing shares stories of labs that have one hour to accept a tanker delivery before fines begin, and roadside enforcement vans checking fuel fraud. They need fast results to enable quick decision-making. GC and GC/MS systems must be ready to run and highly reliable to support these realities.
How Intelligence Removes Friction
For Gearing, intelligence isn’t a buzzword—it is functionality that removes burden from users. He explains that an intelligent system takes a workload or mental effort off of a user and delivers the same or better result with very high confidence.
Practical examples include:
- Touchscreen-guided maintenance, where users tap “prepare for maintenance,” follow on-screen steps, and let the instrument verify readiness afterward
- Built-in diagnostic and leak checks that ensure systems are fit to run
- Peak evaluation that automatically detects shifts in retention time or peak shape and flags issues as soon as they appear
- Consumable tracking that signals when liners, septa, or columns are nearing end of life
These tools provide confidence even for less experienced operators, reducing avoidable mistakes while still allowing experts to work deeper when needed.
User Feedback Drives Design
Gearing emphasizes that customer input shapes every generation of platforms—from early paper prototypes to modern rapid-software builds with real user interaction. Agilent teams gather insight through field visits, service networks, surveys, and product telemetry. Increasingly, users are embedded early in product development under confidentiality.
“That early engagement is amazing,” Gearing notes, because the systems launched to market match real pain points: layout, footprint, maintenance effort, and data access.
Training That Matches How Users Learn
Lengthy paper manuals are gone. Today’s onboarding lives on the instrument and online, accessible “in short, task-based snippets,” whether through guided touchscreen walkthroughs, online communities, or short instructional videos. For labs seeking support, Agilent still offers on-site and classroom training, but most new users expect fast answers delivered digitally and on demand.
Connecting Instruments Securely
One misconception Gearing clears up is that intelligent GC and GC/MS systems do not require an internet connection. All core capability runs locally inside the lab network. Remote access is possible only if a laboratory intentionally enables it through its own VPN and security controls. “There is a difference between IoT and your instrumentation,” he stresses.
Advice for Lab Leaders
Gearing outlines three priorities for anyone shaping an instrumentation strategy:
- Clarify goals—throughput, cost reduction, sustainability, or turnaround time
- Understand users—their skill levels and how they consume information
- Choose solutions that support both—from instruments to workflows to vendor partnership
He also identifies one improvement he would deliver if he could wave a magic wand—automated data processing and review. Reducing this bottleneck would be very welcome, and he sees ongoing promise in computational and AI-based tools.
A Bigger Purpose
After 34 years in the industry, Gearing still feels energized by the impact of chromatography. He points to safer food, cleaner water, regulated fuels, and forensic work that solves real-world problems. “It makes a really big impact on the human condition,” he reflects, and that sense of purpose drives how systems evolve.
Explore Additional Resources
Learn More:
- Explore the Concentrating On Chromatography podcast to dive into the frontiers of chromatography, mass spectrometry, and sample preparation with host David Oliva.
Connect with Jim:
- LinkedIn: Jim Gearing
