Please specify: Catering to clients’ needs
“With SPECIFY 1.0, customers can configure and request almost any specialty gas mixture you can imagine,” says Dr Stefan Lenz, Senior Business Development Manager Digitalisation at Linde. Offering a guided self-service process, SPECIFY 1.0 is designed to make selecting the correct specialty gas mixture smoother, more time-efficient and more interactive – with benefits both for clients and Linde. “We’re looking at a market with a major potential – and we intend to expand SPECIFY 1.0 beyond European borders to the EMEA region,” adds Gabor Szekeres, Senior Manager Cylinder Business Development at Linde.
Once the client has selected the desired number of components, the platform automatically suggests the next most common ingredient. Alternatively, users can choose from a list of more than 700 fixed specialty gas mixtures, as well as manually select both simple substances like carbon dioxide and complex chemical agents like 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene. And there’s more: “If you assemble an odd or unknown mixture, SPECIFY 1.0 will recommend a similar mixture which is certain to be deliverable from a technical perspective,” Szekeres says. “Yet it allows you to insist on your previous choice.”
After the client has finished specification, the platform can instantly notify him as to whether his blend can be produced. In parallel, Linde experts perform a final feasibility test and quickly contact the client with an offer. In the days of fully manual orders, just getting a reply could take up to two weeks.
According to Regina Grassl, Senior Process Expert Specialty Gases at Linde, clients from the pharmaceutical industry and environmental research who use methods of analysis such as gas and liquid chromatography have a particular need for highly specified test gases. Why? To calibrate their instruments. The more specific the calibration gas is, the less time an analysis will take. “Some of our clients face technological challenges resulting from new industry standards or legal requirements,” says Grassl. One example: CO2 and NOX measuring devices for automotive applications. “By guiding our clients through the certification procedures and providing them with an instant reply, we’re contributing to their success and helping them meet any requirements on time.”