A method for optimizing the operation of a system comprising an autosampler and a liquid chromatography (LC) apparatus, wherein said operation comprises withdrawal of a portion of and preparation of a first sample by the autosampler for subsequent analysis by the LC apparatus in accordance with a first LC analysis procedure concurrently with the LC analysis of a second sample by the LC apparatus, wherein the LC apparatus is configurable to chromatographically separate components of a sample in accordance with one or more LC analysis procedures, wherein the autosampler is configurable to, after delaying operations for an autosampler delay time, Δ t d , after receipt of a signal from the LC apparatus, withdraw a portion of the first sample from a container, prepare the portion of the first sample for injection into the LC apparatus, transport the portion of the first sample to the LC apparatus and inject the portion of the first sample into the LC apparatus in accordance with the first LC analysis procedure, the method characterized by : reading, from a database stored on an electronic memory storage device , a stored value of a pre-injection time, t r 1 max , that is required for the autosampler to perform operations preparatory to injecting a portion of the first sample into the LC apparatus for analysis by the first LC analysis procedure, wherein the database includes a plurality of stored pre-injection time values, t r 1 max , t r 2 max , t r 3 max , ... that correspond to respective different LC analysis procedures; calculating the autosampler delay time, Δ t d , from the stored pre-injection time value, t r 1 max , and a time, t s2 , required to perform LC analysis of the second sample; performing the autosampler operations preparatory to injecting the portion of the first sample into the LC apparatus after delaying said autosampler operations for a time corresponding to the autosampler delay time, Δ t d ; and if no autosampler or LC-apparatus errors or malfunctions have been encountered during the performing of said autosampler operations, injecting the portion of the first sample from the autosampler into the LC apparatus after transmission of a signal from the LC apparatus to the autosampler. reading, from a database stored on an electronic memory storage device , a stored value of a pre-injection time, t r 1 max , that is required for the autosampler to perform operations preparatory to injecting a portion of the first sample into the LC apparatus for analysis by the first LC analysis procedure, wherein the database includes a plurality of stored pre-injection time values, t r 1 max , t r 2 max , t r 3 max , ... that correspond to respective different LC analysis procedures; calculating the autosampler delay time, Δ t d , from the stored pre-injection time value, t r 1 max , and a time, t s2 , required to perform LC analysis of the second sample; performing the autosampler operations preparatory to injecting the portion of the first sample into the LC apparatus after delaying said autosampler operations for a time corresponding to the autosampler delay time, Δ t d ; and if no autosampler or LC-apparatus errors or malfunctions have been encountered during the performing of said autosampler operations, injecting the portion of the first sample from the autosampler into the LC apparatus after transmission of a signal from the LC apparatus to the autosampler. <EOS>