Credential Summary

Credential Name Shimadzu High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC): Applied Instrument Diagnostics and Performance Verification
Credential Type Certificate of completion issued by the training provider, Walsh University.
Training Hours 8 contact hours, delivered in one day of in-person, instructor-led training.
Training Provider Certificate of completion issued by the training provider, Walsh University.
Cost per Participant $1,000 per participant
How the Credential is Earned Participants complete a practical check at the end of each of the four blocks, reviewed by the instructor, and attend the full 8 hours. Walsh University then awards the certificate of completion under the credential name shown above.

Course Description

This course teaches laboratory technicians, analytical chemists, and quality control professionals a systematic process for diagnosing HPLC problems and proving that a system performs to criteria. Participants read chromatograms to recognize the cause of problems, apply a step-by-step diagnostic process to flow, pressure, baseline, carryover, peak shape, and retention problems, carry out the corrective repairs each fault requires, and verify performance with system suitability checks. The course is a stand-alone program that can be taken on its own.

Detailed Training Outline

The day is built from short technical explanations, instructor demonstrations, and hands-on work that participants complete on Shimadzu HPLC systems with LabSolutions software during the day. No prerequisites are required.

1. A Systematic Diagnostic Process and Reading Chromatograms:

Technical objectives: apply a step-by-step diagnostic process; explain how hardware, method parameters, and column condition change retention time, peak shape, and baseline.

Hands-on work: the instructor shows example chromatograms with known causes and models the diagnostic process on one fault, then participants make controlled changes to flow rate and mobile phase, record the effect of each change on the chromatogram, and practice naming the likely cause from a set of provided chromatograms.

Output: a log pairing each change with its effect and a diagnostic worksheet.

2. Flow and Pressure Problems:

Technical objectives: diagnose and correct high, low, and fluctuating pressure and flow problems by isolating the cause in the flow path; carry out the related corrective repairs.

Hands-on work: the instructor demonstrates isolating a pressure fault, then participants work through seeded flow and pressure problems, locate each cause, apply the repair, such as replacing a seal, check valve, or frit, and confirm the result.

Output: a troubleshooting log of each problem, cause, repair, and verification.

3. Baseline, Ghost Peak, and Carryover Problems:

Technical objectives: diagnose and correct baseline noise and drift, ghost peaks, and carryover; carry out the related corrective repairs on detectors and autosamplers.

Hands-on work: the instructor demonstrates tracing a ghost peak to its source, then participants work through seeded baseline, ghost peak, and carryover problems, identify each cause, correct it, and confirm with a blank injection.

Output: a troubleshooting log of each problem, cause, correction, and verification.

4. Peak Shape, Retention Problems, and Performance Verification:

Technical objectives: diagnose and correct tailing, fronting, split peaks, and shifting retention times; calculate resolution, tailing factor, plate count, and injection repeatability to verify performance after a repair; complete a troubleshooting log.

Hands-on work: the instructor demonstrates the causes of poor peak shape and retention shifts, then participants correct seeded problems, run replicate injections, calculate suitability parameters, and decide whether the system passes.

Output: a completed troubleshooting log and a performance verification summary.

Technical Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
  • Apply a systematic diagnostic process of defining the symptom, isolating the cause, changing one variable at a time, and verifying the fix
  • Explain how hardware, method parameters, and column condition affect retention time, peak shape, and baseline in a chromatogram
  • Diagnose and correct flow and pressure problems by isolating the cause in the flow path
  • Diagnose and correct baseline noise and drift, ghost peaks, and carryover
  • Diagnose and correct misshapen peaks, including tailing, fronting, and splitting, and shifting retention times
  • Carry out the corrective repair steps on pumps, autosamplers, detectors, and columns that each fault requires
  • Calculate system suitability parameters, including resolution, tailing factor, plate count, and injection repeatability, to verify performance after a repair
  • Keep a troubleshooting log that records each fault, cause, correction, and verification result

Evidence the Skills Have Value Beyond One Employer

The skills taught in this course are not specific to any one employer. They are transferable across every industry that uses liquid chromatography, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology, food and beverage, environmental, chemical, and manufacturing laboratories, because the course teaches diagnostic reasoning and performance verification that apply to HPLC instruments from all manufacturers. The system suitability measures taught here follow those defined in the United States Pharmacopeia general chapter on chromatography, a widely used industry reference. O*NET lists chromatography and laboratory analysis among the work of Chemical Technicians. All hands-on work uses instructor-provided instruments, standards, and samples, not any organization’s materials.