Welch Columns Successfully Replace Well-known Equivalents After Tariff Hikes
Table of contents
Introduction
In April this year, Welch Materials launched the “Domestic Column Replacement Support Program” in China to help researchers and laboratory professionals cope with the challenges brought by the rapidly changing international trade environment. For laboratories facing a sharp rise in costs due to increased tariffs, the program offers reliable domestic alternatives to imported columns.
Over the past few months, the program has shown remarkable results. With outstanding quality and performance, Welch columns have earned strong recognition from customers. To date, more than 60 customers have successfully replaced imported columns with Welch products, covering a wide range of livelihood-related fields such as pharmaceuticals, food, environmental testing, and chemicals—fully demonstrating the strong competitiveness of Chinese columns in analytical testing.
Case 1
Customer:
“I saw your replacement program. We happen to have an SB-C18 (4.6×250 mm, 5 μm) column from a U.S. manufacturer that we’d like to replace. The goal is to achieve the following chromatogram.”
Welch:
“Sure, just a moment. I’ll check our cross reference table. The equivalent is our Ultisil LP-C18 column. I’ll arrange a trial shipment for you right away.”
(A few days later, after trial use)
Customer:
“I honestly didn’t expect it to match the imported brand so well—and your column actually has a more stable baseline. We’ll keep this one.”
Case 2
Customer:
“We have a project that currently uses an amino column from a Japanese manufacturer. Our company is now working on cost reduction and efficiency improvement, so we prefer domestic columns. Do you have a recommendation?”
Welch:
“Yes, we do. I recommend our Ultisil XB-NH₂ column.”
Customer:
“This project is a bit tricky. In the system suitability solution, apart from the main peak, there are six impurities that must be separated. Here’s the chromatogram from the Japanese amino column:”
Welch:
“Please take a look at the results from our Welch amino column:”
Customer:
“The retention and separation of the target impurities meet our requirements. Performance-wise, it’s a perfect replacement—and your price advantage is quite significant. I’ll place the order.”
Case 3
Customer:
“Our company uses many imported columns, but the lead time is long. We’re now looking for domestic alternatives. Do you have a replacement for a Japanese ODS-AQ (4.6×250 mm, 5 μm) column? Here’s our current chromatogram:”
Welch:
“Understood. I evaluated the column’s substrate type, pore size, carbon loading, and surface area, and the best match is our Ultisil AQ-C18 column. You can test it and see the results.”
Customer:
“It meets our project requirements. Comparing the results has increased my trust in domestic brands. We’ll support local products more in the future.”
Conclusion
Real customer experiences are the most convincing proof of product quality. Moving forward, we will continue to innovate and refine our products, leveraging our advantages in localized service and customized method development to provide customers with more complete one-stop chromatography solutions.
Appendix
Welch cross-reference table for columns from multiple brands with successful replacement record:
| Brand | Column | Welch Alternative |
| Agilent | Plus C18 | Ultisil Plus C18 |
| SB-C18 | Ultisil LP-C18 | |
| UHPLC SB-Phenyl | Ultisil UHPLC XB Phenyl | |
| SB-C18 | Ultisil XB-C18 | |
| Rx-C18 | Ultisil LP-C18 | |
| HP-5 (GC column) | WM-5 | |
| SB-C18 | Xtimate C18 | |
| SB-C8 | LP-C8 | |
| UHPLC Plus C18 | DLC UHPLC XB-C18 | |
| Rx-C8 (cartridge) | LP-C8 (cartridge) | |
| RP-C18 | Xtimate C18 | |
| Plus C18 | LP-C18 | |
| SB-C8 | LP-C8 | |
| Plus C18 | Xtimate C18 | |
| INNOWAX (GC column) | WM-INNOWAX | |
| Core-shell C18 | Boltimate C18 | |
| Waters | Conventional C18 | AQ-C18 |
| Hybrid silica C18 | Advanchrom C18 | |
| Hybrid silica C18 | Xtimate C18 | |
| Hybrid silica RP18 | Xtimate Polar RP | |
| UHPLC hybrid silica C18 | Xtimate UHPLC C18 | |
| UHPLC T3 | Ultisil UHPLC AQ-C18 | |
| Hybrid silica C18 (preparative) | Xtimate C18 (preparative) | |
| Shimadzu | ODS-3 | Ultisil ODS-3 |
| Diol-HILIC-120 | Advanchrom Amine | |
| Amino (NH2) column | Ultisil XB-NH2 | |
| C18 | Ultisil Polar-RP | |
| Silica column | Ultisil SiO2 | |
| GC column-5 | WM-5 | |
| ODS column | Xtimate C18 | |
| Ghost trap column | Ghost-Buster Column | |
| Phenomenex | Amino (NH2) column | Xtimate NH2 |
| Core-shell C18 | Boltimate C18 | |
| C18 | Topsil C18 | |
| C18 | Xtimate C18 | |
| Thermo Fisher | Amino | Ultisil HILIC Amide |
| Silica | Ultisil SiO2 | |
| C8 | Ultisil Plus C8 | |
| 1MS (GC column) | WM-1MS | |
| YMC | Hybrid silica C18 | Xtimate C18 |
| ODS-AQ | Ultisil AQ-C18 | |
| Tosoh | Amide-80 | Ultisil HILIC Amide |
| SEC column | Xtimate SEC-120 | |
| Bio-rad | H-type sugar column | Xtimate Sugar-H |
Note: for other columns and brands, please contact our sales team at info@welchmat.com for replacement inquiries.