Keithley, another one bites the ... Danaher - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 29, 2010, 08:22:14 pm
content: I just read a press release that Danaher bought Keithley.http://www.danaher.com/news/news_detail.asp?key=386You don't know Danaher? Well, they own a few other companies, too. One is called Fluke. Another one they own is called Tektronix. They say they will make Keithley part of Tektronix. It will be interesting to see what will happen to Keithley's multimeter products.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 30, 2010, 12:35:56 am
content: The evil Danaher group strike again...Dave.

author: PetrosA
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2010, 02:38:37 am
content: This is SUCH an invitation to rantI'm not sure what I think about this trend in business. It's maybe related in some big way to patents and how intellectual property law is taking shape in modern business, but on the other hand there does seem to be something "evil" in it.There is a very similar thing that happened with cordless tools. Most of the tool companies buy their motors from Johnson and their batteries from Panasonic. Most of the tool companies are actually owned by one of a few conglomerates - Stanley owns Black and Decker which owns DeWalt, Delta, Porter-Cable etc.; TTI in Hong Kong owns Milwaukee, AEG, Ryobi etc.; Bosch owns something like 350 subsidiaries, and the list goes on. While there is definitely a trend towards more affordability with power tools, the downside is that to get truly great tools from an innovative company, you have to pay 2-3 times as much like Hilti, Festool or some other small specialized brands. Mostly the only difference between them at this point is whose Johnson is bigger.If the same One World trend takes over in test equipment, the only real difference between brands will be which market segment the parent companies decide to conquer with which brand at what price range. Sad.

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2010, 02:43:26 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on September 30, 2010, 12:35:56 amevil? more and more people are talking (or putting high) about Fluke and Tektronix stuffs?Quote from: PetrosA on September 30, 2010, 02:38:37 ambe careful... someone (not me) will just say... you always talk nonsenseMaybe this kind of news... just explained the Law of "Survival of the Fittest"

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 30, 2010, 03:00:59 am
content: Quote from: shafri on September 30, 2010, 02:43:26 amIt's survival of the richest.Dave.

author: slburris
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2010, 04:35:56 am
content: Quote from: PetrosA on September 30, 2010, 02:38:37 amSo taking out all the China based general T&M companies, who is left that's not part of Danaher?Hmm, Agilent, R&S, uh....thinking....still thinkingAnyone else? There must be.Scott

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2010, 06:13:37 am
content: Quote from: shafri on September 30, 2010, 02:43:26 amIt is the other way around. Fluke and Tektronix acquired their solid reputation before they were bought by Danaher. It is not Danaher who build that reputation. They just spend a lot of money to buying these companies with their reputation.Here is a Business Week article about Danaher from 2007http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_08/b4022065.htmAlso check the comments, where some people talk about what happened with Tektronix after Danaher bought them.