Fluke 87V (2017) lacking quality control?

[P90]

Which part of "Fluke is a reputation-driven company" are you failing to understand?

Unfortunately their north american customer service leaves quite a bit to be desired. Last time I called for some zebra strips the gal had no clue what to look up. Time before that it took three calls to get a part ordered.

[tooki]

Mine which dates from 2015 (but I've only just bought) has "Made in USA" on the bumper but not on the instrument itself. Does this mean it is made in China?
It is a bit disingenuous because it has Fluke USA on it but doesn't actually say it is made in the USA. See attached photos.

[EDIT]
Looking at the cardboard box it came in, it says country of origin US and that it is made in the US with imported parts, what ever that means. See added photos.

My 87V was purchased and manufactured in February 2015, as the E2 kit.

My unit is just like the one above: doesn't say Made in USA on the meter, but does on the bumper. The box printing itself says "Printed in the USA. Assembled in the USA." and the label says "COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: US" just like the one above.

[tooki]

Which part of "Fluke is a reputation-driven company" are you failing to understand?

Everything. He's gone off the rails.

[P90]

Which part of "Fluke is a reputation-driven company" are you failing to understand?

Everything. He's gone off the rails.

Like that Ozzy Osbourne song? lol

[Electro Detective]

Which part of "Fluke is a reputation-driven company" are you failing to understand?

I believe the OP has the exclusive right to answer that

he's the one currently getting a sample of how a "reputation-driven company" operates in 2017,

not 1987

[BMack]

Has anyone contacted Fluke yet?


It should still have the COO on the box.

Maybe the grey plastic is a quick visual check for the Fluke police to know the country of origin.

eg. There may be a cheaper "China-only" version of the meter that some grey importers are exporting them to the rest of the world.

If that's the case then I'm sure Fluke would like to know where you got this from. I'd email Fluke and show them a picture.

Either way:
a) It doesn't change the fact that this is just bad luck and you should get a replacement.
b) The only difference will be OEM price. There's no way Fluke would compromise their flagship meter by making an inferior version of it. If it were different inside they'd put a different model number on the front.

eg. The Fluke 15B/17B were originally "China-only"models but turned out to be perfectly good meters. 100% Fluke, just not officially sold in the USA.

(has this situation changed? Fluke now lists them on their main web site as well as Fluke Asia).

I noticed that Fluke's instagram account "regramed" a 17b+ ...not sure if that means much, probably a mass com major running the account but you'd think someone would tell them to pull it if they were still pretending it didn't exist.

[floobydust]

Cost Improvement (CI) project:
Reviewing the BOM, putting in lower cost components.
Reviewing the enclosure, finding cheaper injection molding vendors.
Reviewing the manufacturing, finding cheaper plants.

I see all three of these done on OP's (defective) meter.

Gone are the blue Vishay precision resistors, the carbon-comp input resistor, the high-quality solder mask PCB, change to elcheapo DB104 bridge rectifier etc.

Moving the plastics fab, i.e. someone else is making it- the text silkscreen is skinny, the input jack frame and oops we changed from red to gray due to a mistake.

It all indicates a change to another vendor, loss of quality control, cheapening of the product.

[Electro Detective]

"reputation-driven company" doing all that to scrape an extra buck?    

Previous comments above insist NO WAY !!!     perish the thought 

Cost Improvement (CI) project:
Reviewing the BOM, putting in lower cost components.
Reviewing the enclosure, finding cheaper injection molding vendors.
Reviewing the manufacturing, finding cheaper plants.

I see all three of these done on OP's (defective) meter.

Gone are the blue Vishay precision resistors, the carbon-comp input resistor, the high-quality solder mask PCB, change to elcheapo DB104 bridge rectifier etc.

Moving the plastics fab, i.e. someone else is making it- the text silkscreen is skinny, the input jack frame and oops we changed from red to gray due to a mistake.

It all indicates a change to another vendor, loss of quality control, cheapening of the product.

[Dwaine]

And all the people involved in those activities were outsourced because the meters were not negative in cost to manufacturing. 

The dieselgate is happening in every company.  Don't worry your brand new Fluke AI learning selfaware? 290 DMM will kill most of the human race.  So it won't matter anymore.

[P90]

As already mentioned, it's all about the bottom line, and how far they can push it to maximize profits. If the quality keeps dropping, it'll ultimately  affect their reputation. But it's the same everywhere, greed of the big companies. Profits before people, nothing new here...

[Electro Detective]

"Pursuing profit (and screwing up other people) is human nature"

Pursuing profit (and screwing up other people) is NEANDERTHAL nature, not human.

---------------------------

"If you don't have the power to change things, then shut up and change yourself"

I don't have the power to change things without MUTUAL CONSUMER SUPPORT.

Shutting up and changing myself isn't going to get anyone any power to change things.

----------------------------

Why back them anyway?  do you expect to be rewarded for keeping their leaky boat from rocking?

If a customer gets shafted with an overpriced product from a once reputable company going south ever so gradually,

are you obligated by them also to accept and thank them for not doing worse? 


Please....   

[P90]

many so-called humans act worse than Neanderthals...

[Muttley Snickers]

Cost Improvement (CI) project:
Reviewing the BOM, putting in lower cost components.
Reviewing the enclosure, finding cheaper injection molding vendors.
Reviewing the manufacturing, finding cheaper plants.

It all indicates a change to another vendor, loss of quality control, cheapening of the product.

Which revision was this one ?, I suspect all of them, anyway I will be sure to avoid these at all cost.   

Not that it matters really but I've recently decided that any new meters we purchase are to be Keysight purely based on their great service and support, not to mention the added features as well.   

[floobydust]

I looked and Fluke (multimeters) has at least four different plants, but could not confirm countries...

Then I stumbled onto the old news, Danaher bought Fluke for $625 million in 2003.
Danaher bought Tektronix $2.8 billion in 2007. Danaher bought Keithley $340 million in 2010. Danaher bought Amprobe in 2006.

So they are owned by a mega conglomerate and we all know that profit is king.
Let us consider Danaher's stock performance, 10 year graph below.

[Electro Detective]

The same graph inverted may be the next 10 year shoppers performance if they keep up the   -MADE IN UFO-  with local and imported Uni-T parts,
and assembled with pride at the Flook Tu Hung Lo factory

Fluke are no longer the only game in town,
unless their bosses buy up all the other players soon
or have they already? 

 

[Fungus]

Then I stumbled onto the old news, Danaher bought Fluke for $625 million in 2003.

Interesting.

So they are owned by a mega conglomerate and we all know that profit is king.

[NiaDebesis]

The box of my fluke 87V say
"Made in us, with imported parts"

On the multimeter there isn' t printend "Made in usa"

[tooki]

Pursuing profit (and screwing up other people) is human nature. As long as there is no competitor that can surpass Fluke's overall reputation and quality as well as functions, they can lower their quality to wherever they want and raise the price to wherever they want.

FYI, I think (hope??) that you've simply confused "screwing over" with "screwing up", which mean quite different things.

To screw someone: to have sex with them
To screw someone over: to cheat the person (as in a business transaction)
To screw someone for [an item or amount]: to cheat the person out of the item or amount
To screw someone up: to mess with the person to the point of causing lasting psychological damage


Now, assuming you mean "screwing over is human nature" - well, it varies wildly by culture, and by individual. It most certainly is not universal human nature. 

[tooki]

Osirison, what does the box of your meter say as Country of Origin? It's on the label with the date of manufacture.

Everyone else, crikey, one whisper of a rumor of a change and you've gone off the rails. Chill out, seriously.

[tooki]

The box of my fluke 87V say
"Made in us, with imported parts"

On the multimeter there isn' t printend "Made in usa"

Date of manufacture? Country of Origin? (Both printed on the white label on the box.)

[NiaDebesis]

Nov 2016

Contry of origin : US

[Electro Detective]

So the box was folded together in the US in 2016 ?  

 

[NiaDebesis]

AHAHAH probably

But on the case of the multimeter is printed

'Made in USA"

I think the have only chanched the print location

[Electro Detective]

The Fluke 87V is still a great go to meter,

but there is NO JUSTIFICATION or LAME EXCUSES good enough to cover the obvious signs they are going CHEAP on it 

and charging FULL PRICE 

OP should demand a REFUND because more than likely the replacement will be a WORKING cheapie

i.e.   OP has not got what he paid for, and a lot LESS

This is not the JOHN FLUKE POLICY or business model created, read up on it! 

I bet the gent is rolling in his grave looking down at the mess going on 

[lem_ix]

That meter is way too expensive in Europe for nasty surprises, regardless of where it's made (couldn't care less). At a price of 469 eur at reichelt and a mind boggling 580 eur at my local official fluke partner  Gossen is even more expensive and judging by Joe's videos not infallible, not great spec wise either. Return it and buy a bm869s + bm257s and go for a nice dinner with the rest or buy a nice probe set.