Three breakthrough technologies signal Shimadzu’s commitment to Indian laboratories: Advanced gas chromatography, X-ray diffraction, and AI-powered liquid chromatography
Shimadzu Corporation unveiled a revolutionary suite of analytical instruments that promise to reshape laboratory operations across the pharmaceutical, chemical, and environmental testing sectors. With pan-India operations led by regional managers including Dheeraj , Shimadzu’s latest offerings represent a significant commitment to advancing Indian laboratory capabilities.
The Nexus GC 2060: Redefining Gas Chromatography for Modern Laboratories
According to Dheeraj , Regional Support Manager for GC and GCMS at Shimadzu India, the Nexus GC 2060 represents a high-end gas chromatograph that stands at the forefront of analytical instrumentation. At the heart of this system stands the exhibition showcase of Shimadzu’s most significant innovation—the system represents far more than an incremental equipment upgrade; it embodies a fundamental rethinking of how gas chromatography platforms should be designed and operated.
“We have launched a new injector port that we call a multi-mode injector port,” Dheeraj explained, describing the standout innovation driving the GC 2060’s capabilities. “You can do split injection, splitless injection, direct injection, program temperature vaporization injection, large volume injection, and thermal desorption all in the same injector port.”
This unified injection platform consolidates six distinct injection methodologies without requiring multiple injector modules. Researchers can now seamlessly execute all injection types from a single, elegantly engineered injection assembly—a capability that carries profound practical implications for laboratory operations.
Pharmaceutical quality control laboratories no longer face the choice between maintaining multiple GC systems or limiting their analytical capabilities to a single injection mode. Formulation scientists conducting stability studies can switch between injection techniques without reconfiguring hardware. Environmental testing facilities can analyze diverse sample types—volatiles, semi-volatiles, and thermally unstable compounds—from a single platform.
Enhanced Detection Capabilities Set New Sensitivity Standards
Chandy highlighted the detector advancements with particular enthusiasm. “We have launched a new FID detector in this GC, which is having a sensitivity of one picogram, which is twenty percent more sensitive compared to our previous model,” he noted. This enhanced sensitivity fundamentally changes what laboratories can accomplish. Researchers can now detect trace compounds that previously demanded pre-concentration steps or larger sample volumes. The practical consequence is profound: faster analysis times, reduced sample preparation burden, and lower overall analytical costs.
“We have also launched a new TCD detector, which is again twenty-five percent more sensitive than the previous conventional TCD detector,” Dheeraj explained, emphasizing the breadth of Shimadzu’s detector innovations. “And that TCD detector is a special detector, where you can install a capillary column and a pack column also, both in the same detector.”
For multi-method facilities, this dual-column compatibility eliminates the need to purchase separate detectors for different chromatographic approaches—a significant capital savings and space optimization for laboratories managing multiple analytical methodologies.
Scalability Built Into the Architecture
Recognizing that laboratory needs evolve over time, dheeraj pointed out that “this GC is upgradeable with the headspace also, which is our flagship model of HS-20NX. It can be upgraded in future to MS also.” This forward-thinking design approach ensures that laboratories investing in the Nexus GC 2060 today can expand their analytical scope without replacing core instrumentation. For facilities anticipating future mass spectrometry capabilities, the architecture has been engineered to support MS integration, ensuring that today’s investment remains relevant as analytical ambitions grow.
Rigaku Miniflex and SmartLab SE: Bringing Crystallographic Precision to Every Laboratory
Complementing Shimadzu’s gas chromatography innovations, Rajeshh Deshpande, from Shimadzu India Private Limited based in Hyderabad, presented two advanced X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) systems at the exhibition: the Rigaku Miniflex benchtop model and the SmartLab SE floor-standing platform. These systems exemplify how Shimadzu and its partner Rigaku Corporation are democratizing crystallographic analysis across pharmaceutical quality control, formulation development, and research applications.
The Miniflex: Benchtop Capability Without Compromise
“We are representing Rigaku Corporation XRD system, both XRD Miniflex, a tabletop, and SmartLab SE, a floor standing model,” Deshpande explained. “These XRDs are very popularly used in the APIs and formulation, either it is QC, basic QC, or R&D.”
“The beauty of these modern XRDs is that the chiller, the water chiller, is inbuilt as a standard,” Deshpande noted, highlighting a key advantage. The Rigaku Miniflex represents a revolutionary approach to benchtop X-ray diffraction. Despite its compact footprint—designed to occupy minimal laboratory space—the system delivers analytical capabilities previously reserved for larger, more expensive floor-standing instruments. The inbuilt water chiller eliminates the need for separate infrastructure and installation complexity.
“We have more than fourteen thousand Google citations and five thousand patents published on this benchtop system,” Deshpande stated with evident pride. This citation history represents independent scientific validation that the Miniflex delivers credible, reproducible results trusted by the global research community. For pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations, this scientific standing is critical when making capital equipment decisions.
High-Throughput Analysis with Advanced Detector Technology
“We have a fast detector. We have 1D fast detector, which can analyze your sample at a hundred degrees per minute,” Deshpande explained, describing the system’s speed advantage. “We have an option for 2D fast detector as well to make your sample analysis even faster with no compromise on the sensitivity and resolution.”
Speed is essential in quality control operations processing dozens of samples daily. These rapid detection capabilities represent a significant acceleration compared to conventional XRD systems. For laboratories requiring even faster turnaround, the 2D fast detector option pushes analysis speed to unprecedented levels while maintaining analytical sensitivity and resolution.
According to Deshpande, “We have lot of auto samplers on which you can do the high sample throughput analysis.” Automated sample changers extend the speed advantage further, enabling high-throughput batch analysis without continuous operator attention. A single researcher can load dozens of samples and allow the Miniflex to process them systematically—a workflow transformation for busy QC departments.
Unlocking Stability Studies and Thermal Behavior
“These machines have an option to upgrade with the sample in situ analysis, wherein you can do from minus one ninety degrees up to plus five hundred degrees Celsius,” Deshpande highlighted, describing a feature critical for pharmaceutical research. “Wherein you can do the stability studies of the formulation samples.”
This extraordinary temperature range enables researchers to conduct real-time stability studies on pharmaceutical formulations, observing precisely how crystal structures transform as they respond to thermal stress. Understanding polymorphic transformations is critical in pharmaceutical development—different crystalline forms possess different bioavailability and stability profiles. Using the Miniflex’s in-situ heating and cooling capabilities, researchers can map polymorphic transitions, identify stable forms, and predict shelf-life behavior—invaluable information for regulatory submissions and manufacturing control strategies.
“It also comes with airtight sample holder also, and it can also operate in the transmission mode, making a perfect choice not only for the QC applications, but also for the R&D application, whether it is a API or formulations, right from the basic two theta analysis to the quantification of the compounds,” Deshpande explained. Dual-mode operation—both reflection and transmission analysis—provides analytical flexibility for diverse sample types: powders, thin films, and specialized geometries. Whether researchers are conducting routine two-theta phase identification or executing quantitative compound analysis, the Miniflex delivers sophisticated crystallographic information.
AI Series LC 2018: Artificial Intelligence Transforms Liquid Chromatography
Completing Shimadzu’s analytical suite at the exhibition is Santhosh Bharadwaj from Shimadzu who unveiled the Semaru AI Series LC 2018, a liquid chromatography platform that integrates artificial intelligence throughout its operational architecture. Rather than treating automation as an afterthought grafted onto conventional instrumentation, the LC 2018 has been designed from the ground up with machine learning intelligence embedded at every operational stage.
Machine Learning Integration: From Startup to Shutdown
“This is new AI series, LC twenty eighteen. It is having very advanced features. It provides high efficiency and reliable data,” Bharadwaj explained, introducing the system. “It is having the new machine learning, where we are delivering the real-time data processing along with the seamless data integration for user friendly informations.”
“The intelligence is built-in from the startup to shutdown,” Bharadwaj emphasized. “Complete automation starting from the start of the system to until the analysis is completed.” The LC 2018 represents a paradigm shift in how laboratory automation is conceived. Complete automation doesn’t merely mean automated sample injection and detection—it means intelligent system behavior that anticipates problems and prevents them before they impact analytical results.
“It is having the inclusion of the auto diagnostic feature. This is the machine learning part,” Bharadwaj explained. “In auto diagnostic system, automatically checks if there is some blockage inside the flow path. So it automatically clears that, and it helps the user to have complete automation.”
An advanced auto-diagnostic feature continuously monitors the flow path during operation. If blockages or obstructions are detected—accumulated particulates, crystallized samples, or other flow impediments—the system automatically initiates clearing procedures without operator intervention. This predictive maintenance approach prevents the frustration of unexpected mid-analysis shutdowns.
“If during the analysis system having the issue like pressure fluctuation, it automatically stops or pause the analysis,” Bharadwaj noted. “Then later on, it can take up the further purging as per the requirement. And again the system checks the stability of the back pressure. And further, it can take up the next action as per the requirement.”
During analysis execution, the system’s machine learning algorithms monitor pressure fluctuations and other operational parameters in real-time. If anomalies are detected, the intelligent system pauses or stops the analysis as pre-programmed, then conducts necessary purging operations to restore system stability. The system independently determines the optimal next action—whether to pause the sequence, continue analysis, or perform additional blank injections for compliance verification.
“All this information being feeded in the software logs, so there is full compliance while using the system,” Bharadwaj stated. All decisions made by the system are automatically logged in detailed software records, ensuring full compliance documentation for regulated environments. This intelligent decision-making—executed automatically without expert operator judgment—democratizes advanced liquid chromatography.
Advanced Hardware Architecture for Next-Generation Analysis
“It is also having the certain advanced features, so new needle seal port and new design mechanism of the needle movement. So it is also taking care of the carryover part, so it having the least carryover with the available systems in the market,” Bharadwaj detailed. “Totally, it is having two hundred sixteen samples in this.”
Beyond software intelligence, the LC 2018 incorporates several groundbreaking hardware innovations. A newly designed needle seal port and advanced needle movement mechanism minimize sample carryover—the critical contamination vector in high-throughput analysis. In comparative testing, the LC 2018 demonstrates the lowest carryover rates among competing systems currently available in the marketplace. High-throughput capacity has been engineered into the platform’s architecture, accommodating two hundred sixteen samples in a single analytical run.
“This system having the lot of automations, like MPM feature, mobile phase monitoring,” Bharadwaj explained. “It is also designed with the new advanced PD detector, having the one zero two four diodes, which can take a high resolution, that is having point eight.”
The detector architecture represents another frontier of innovation. The advanced photodiode array (PDA) detector incorporates one thousand twenty-four diodes, delivering exceptional point-eight nanometer resolution—optical performance rivaling significantly more expensive systems. Operating at pressures up to seventy megapascals (approximately ten thousand plus PSI), the system enables exploitation of micron-diameter columns that generate extreme back pressures, necessary for ultra-high-resolution separations.
Intelligent Column Protection: Extending Expensive Hardware Lifespan
“Since the system having the capability to go up to the very high back pressure, seventy MP, that is like ten thousand plus PSI back pressure, we have the feature that is Flow Pilot,” Bharadwaj explained. “When we starting the analysis, system can take care of the column. Increasing the flow is gradually, then holding for certain time to reach the column oven temperature, so it can completely protect the life of the column.”
One of the most economically impactful features is the intelligent Flow Pilot system. When analyses begin with micron columns at extreme pressures, the initial flow conditions can stress or damage expensive chromatographic columns. The Flow Pilot intelligently ramps flow gradually during system startup, holding optimal flow while the column oven reaches its operating temperature. This intelligent ramp-up completely protects column longevity, extending the usable lifespan of expensive HPLC columns dramatically—a significant cost savings for laboratories running high-pressure methods.
“Overall, the system that take care of the analysis, automation, user friendly, and delivers the high precision and high performance,” Bharadwaj concluded.
A Comprehensive Analytical Ecosystem
What distinguishes Shimadzu’s exhibition at Analytica-Anacon India 2026 is not merely the announcement of individual instruments, but rather the presentation of a coherent analytical ecosystem. From gas chromatography to X-ray diffraction to AI-powered liquid chromatography, the product suite addresses the complete analytical workflow demands of modern pharmaceutical, chemical, and environmental testing facilities.
The insights from Dhiraj Chandy, Rajneesh Deshpande, and Santhosh Bharadwaj reveal Shimadzu’s comprehensive vision: the Nexus GC 2060’s multi-mode injector, the Miniflex’s crystallographic precision, and the LC 2018’s embedded intelligence each represent frontier innovations in their respective domains. Together, they illustrate Shimadzu’s commitment to advancing the analytical capabilities of Indian science and industry.
As Shimadzu continues its engagement at Analytica-Anacon India 2026, the demonstration booths offer Indian researchers, laboratory managers, and equipment decision-makers an opportunity to experience these innovations firsthand—to witness the future of analytical chemistry, and to envision how these technologies might transform their own laboratory operations. The convergence of enhanced sensitivity, artificial intelligence, multi-mode flexibility, and high-throughput capability positions Indian research institutions and industrial facilities to compete on a global stage.
-Rashmi Kumari
