Letter from Lawrence E. Welch

Knox College

January 23, 2003

To Whom It May Concern:

My position as an Analytical Chemistry Professor has brought me into contact with the OLIS Corporation on a regular basis during the past 3 years. They are a small company, but an absolutely first class organization with great ideas and an impeccable reputation.

Two things come to mind when trying to characterize OLIS. First of all, design quality. Their business at OLIS is making spectrophotometers and other associated optical products. Rest assured that there are plenty of companies doing this same thing, but OLIS has taken a fresh approach to the design of these instruments from the bottom up. As a result of this innovative approach and the quality of their workmanship. OLIS makes instruments that are completely unlike any others in the field. These instruments have capabilities that are beyond those of the instruments being produced by their competitors. As a researcher and an educator, this is a plus. I wrote a successful grant proposal to the Dreyfus Foundation to obtain the funding that allowed Knox College to purchase an OLIS RSM instrument. One of the cornerstones of the proposal was the development of a wide variety of undergraduate chemistry experiments utilizing a single spectrophotometer. I would like to think that I've been very successful at this task, but it has only worked because of the flexibility of the RSM, which is a function of its unique design. The RSM can do everything that the instruments of the competitors will do, but it can also perform a whole raft of additional experiments that cannot even be attempted with the competing products.

The other aspect of OLIS that makes them stand out is their service. I have dealt with a lot of instrument vendors in my 15 years as an analytical chemistry professor, but I have never found a vendor as responsive and helpful after the sale as OLIS. Everyone is helpful when you are looking to buy something, but trying to get technical support after the sale is often a nightmare of endless telephone waits trying to speak to a human with some technical knowledge. I can't tell you how many times I have called OLIS over the last three years, but it has been a lot. Almost every time, without delay. I end up talking to somebody knowledgeable about the instrument that has given me cogent advice. No talking to automated tellers, no waiting by the phone for the service representative to call back some time over the next 4 hours, but rather a live conversation with a technical expert. Sometimes, the human I get to speak with at Olis is none other than the man who invented the instrument and patented its design. What's more, my questions have often strayed from asking about aspects of the instrument and its use to asking about things that likely have more to do with the chemistry I am studying than the functioning of the instrument. At OLIS, they understand that the bottom line is getting their customer's experiments to work, and they don't mind answering questions that stray a bit away from the topic of the instrument and its specifications.

OLIS makes products that could be considered higher-end spectrophotometers. Looking ahead, I think that there is a lot of growth potential for these products within the chemical education community. One of the things that I am trying to do with my Dreyfus award is to develop new experiments that can be incorporated into the standard undergraduate chemistry curriculum, and to disseminate this information within the chemical education community. As more people read my papers and hear my presentations, they will begin to appreciate the value of these new experiments and the importance of having an instrument that can perform them. While a great research tool, the OLIS RSM represents the kind of instrument that quality undergraduate chemistry programs will be acquiring during the next two decades for use in their teaching laboratories. OLIS is positioned well to serve this expanding market, and they will certainly be praised generously in all of my dissemination work. As long as they continue to pursue innovative designs, demand quality workmanship, and service their products with vigor and aplomb, this is a company with a great future.

Sincerely,

Lawrence E. Welch
Associate Professor and Chair, Chemistry