Where have all the chemists gone?

A long while ago, the folk singer Pete Seeger wrote a song "Where have all the flowers gone?" It was a favourite of the pretty, soulful girls with ironed-straight long hair who sang in the coffee houses of my youth.  In my work with industry over the past years, I could almost sing to the same tune "where have all the chemists gone?". Where indeed, for they seem to be few and far between in many quality control laboratories these days.

For those of us at the pointy end of customer contact in the analytical instrumentation game, it's becoming increasingly difficult to find people who have the technical knowledge to understand and successfully operate relatively simple instruments. I have personal experience of a large food company with a factory in my home city where there is no analytical chemist on the staff. I was involved in the installation of a titration system and training when it was sold two years ago. Our point of contact is the "technician" who is supposed to provide in-house support to the factory workers who do the actual analyses. The "technician" is actually a terribly nice bloke, but with absolutely no background in chemistry whatsoever. Over the past two years, he has been in frequent contact with the sales staff, expecting them to sort out simple problems which are principally of his own making. In another case, I did the installation of another system in a chemical packaging company where there are no chemists on the staff. They thought that it was perfectly reasonable to expect that included in the purchasing price was an ongoing commitment to sort out their problems as they occur. I stress that overwhelmingly, these problems stem not from equipment or component failure, but purely from a lack of understanding as to what they are doing. I feel a suitable analogy would be walking into a car dealership and expecting the salesperson to teach you how to drive as part of the purchase price of the car. A colleague recounted a similar experience of his, where the previous job of the laboratory supervisor of a factory belonging to his customer (a large chemical concern) was  as a pastry cook. His unqualified laboratory staff have reportedly appallingly bad analytical habits, and resolutely refused to listen to any advice as to how do things properly. It is a fact that unqualified persons can be trained to push the buttons on modern automated analytical instrumentation, but there has to be someone somewhere in the company with the requisite qualifications, experience and knowledge to fix the problems when and if they occur.

Is it reasonable to expect that companies outsource their technical expertise to instrument companies who may have little knowledge of the processes or products? There was a time when development chemists were common in analytical laboratories. There was a realization that improvements in analytical methods lead to better process control, better raw material utilization, and less wastage, all activities which drive profits to the bottom line of a company. So what has happened to bring us to this point? Your comments, please.