AutoAnalyzers were used mainly for routine repetitive medical laboratory analyses, but they had been replaced during the last years more and more by discrete working systems which allow lower reagent consumption. These instruments typically determine levels of albumin, alkaline phosphatase, aspartate transaminase (AST), blood urea nitrogen,  bilirubin, calcium, cholesterol, creatinine, glucose, inorganic phosphorus, proteins, and uric acid in blood serum or other bodily samples.  AutoAnalyzers automate repetitive sample analysis steps which would otherwise be done manually by a technician, for such medical tests as the ones mentioned previously.  This way, an AutoAnalyzer can analyze hundreds of samples every day with one operating technician.  Early AutoAnalyzer instruments each tested multiple samples sequentially for individual analytes.  Later model AutoAnalyzers such as the SMAC tested for multiple analytes simultaneously in the samples.
In 1959 a competitive system of analysis was introduced by Hans Baruch of Research Specialties Company.  That system became known as Discrete Sample Analysis and was represented by an instrument known as the "Robot Chemist."  Over the years the Discrete Sample Analysis method slowly replaced the Continuous Flow system in the clinical laboratory.