I really know which requirements you mean. We typically send to an outside lab and simply get back a spectrum. We are looking to bring that in-house. Our lab does failure analysis and quality control checks. In the reseach I've done on FTIR Spectrometer options it seems that each spectrometer company has one version for Research grade and another version for Routine QC. We would need one for basic quality checks. I'm curious to know if people have used several brands and have a preference to one over another.
One thing is the sample preparation. A normal FTIR you may need to prepare a pellet in KBr which is tedious. Many modern FTIR machines use total internal reflection meaning that you just press the plastic sample on the surface, push a button and get the spectrum. That kind is often more useful in the environment you described.
Also be sure not to get the kind that needs you to fill the sensor with liquid nitrogen to keep it cool. That's totally unnecessary and very impractical as the machine is useless without the liquid nitrogen.
I have used various brands at various times. The big names are Thermo Nicolet, PerkinElmer, Bruker and Varian. I think you will find that hardware is not a differentiator (they all should be excellent), but software differences can be huge. Bruker have been behind the others in software. Get demonstrations before buying. Make sure to spend the money to get a good software library for comparison/look-up. Deomn3's advice is very sound - go for a TIR module so that you can simply press the sample against a surface and press a button for analysis.
