Assay Technology

4 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 6 Since Assay’s inception in 1981, Manning has focused on developing Assay’s personal monitoring badges and supporting them with business strategies. After 2004, with the acquisition of the Miller-Nelson Atmosphere Generator and Respirator Lab, the company became more involved with respirators as a measuring devices too. Assay considers its team a collective resource that is a reference laboratory capable of addressing the most unique problems in atmosphere generation. Its chemical capacity testing and atmosphere generators business continues to expand because of that collective expertise. Today Assay maintains an active interest in mergers and acquisitions with synergistic partners in chemically related businesses, especially owner- operated or employee-owned firms. Assay’s clients include some of the largest companies in the world. Examples include 3M, General Electric, and many of the world’s best- known oil producers like Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Arco. Hospitals are another major industry that is covered, given the high number of chemicals and specialized medicines used in that field. Large laboratories need to measure employee exposure to chemicals along with global laboratories in a variety of industries. Finally, safety and health consultants are regular customers as well. Those organizations along with many of the laboratories that are customers will provide the monitoring and measuring services but rely on Assay’s personal monitoring badges for acquiring the readings. Building a brand and global following According to Manning, it took many years for Assay to gain the market share it now enjoys. Exposure to chemicals began to get more attention in the 1970s as oil spills and other energy disasters became more commonplace, so when he helped to form the business in 1981, interest in this type of monitoring was significant. However, much of Assay’s competition for the monitoring side of the business in the early years consisted of larger, bulkier devices that were placed in known areas within the workplace. The personal monitoring badges offered by Assay on the other hand weigh only a couple of ounces.