Occam’s Razor & Chemistry
Although there are competing theories as to the meaning and benefits or drawbacks of Occam’s Razor ( William of Ockham U.K. 1287-1347), the most widely held and accepted is that amongst the most complicated theories, problems or answers sought thereof , the law of parsimony can often be the best practice.
In the world of alchemy or modern day chemistry, how many times have you encountered problems ranging from unexpected results in your formulations to securing a supply source and had to spend countless hours, days, weeks or months, piling up costs and jeopardizing your products performance, complicating and compounding the problems only to find yourself coming full circle back to the most simple solution?
Granted there are times when complicated issues require complicated answers, yet if we can step outside that box, we can often find the solution in an easier fashion and sometimes several solutions in that same place. Industry in general as we have all learned has good intentions to address problems that arise, building bigger, ever more complicated & sophisticated systems and platforms to make getting the solutions easier, yet that system in itself becomes a monumental endeavor and the answers customers seek to their problem has now manifest itself 1,000 fold, combine this with fewer options via mergers and acquisitions in supply chains, this is where the law of parsimony can be very useful.
It is said no one can be everything to everybody but one can be many things to many people, this is an inherent philosophy of First Source Worldwide, LLC. From our four quality control, application and testing laboratories, to our coating and colorant experts and technicians, to our eight manufacturing and distribution facilities, many answers can be found in one place:
- Water and solvent borne resin products & technical coatings.
- Organic and inorganic pigment powders and dispersions.
- Powder and liquid dye colorants for numerous platforms.
- Performance additives.
- Specialty chemistries.
- Fillers and extenders.
- Specialty packaging.
- Custom and spectrophotometer color matching.
An ISO 9001:2015 company, First Source Worldwide is big enough to handle the important conversations yet flexible enough to serve the clients needs, do you have an Occam’s Razor?
About the Author: Jerry Fitzpatrick
