[RoseAlchemist]

Thanks everyone for their answers! I was able to use the answers received here to convince my higher ups to reconsider. They had some slicked up salesman trying to convince him we needed things we didn’t and in presenting this they’ve decided to just reface our cabinets and buy us a few shiny new scales. 

[RoseAlchemist]

Bill_Toge said:

speaking as a chemist with 10 years’ experience at the bench, I will say that industrial labs are nothing like academic labs, or labs on TV: if they are to serve a useful purpose they should be kept simple, have the equipment required to fulfil their function with maximum efficiency, and ideally a little bit of room for expansions and upgrades

needless to say, you do not need $40,000 worth of equipment to get good results - they ultimately come from staff training, on-the-job education and personal development

who are these people doing the pushing? do they have any relevant technical background, or any practical experience whatsoever?

No experience. They’re People with three letter titles that make six figures more than I do. I have seven years of experience but they are the sort of older men that need another man to repeat me so they believe it.