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Keithley Instruments, LLC

Company type	Subsidiary of Tektronix
Industry	Electronic Test Equipment
Founded	Cleveland, Ohio (1946)
Headquarters	Solon, Ohio USA
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Chris Bohn, General Manager Joseph F. Keithley, Founder
Parent	Fortive Corporation
Website	www.tek.com/keithley

Keithley Instruments is a measurement and instrument company headquartered in Solon, Ohio, that develops, manufactures, markets, and sells data acquisition products, as well as complete systems for high-volume production and assembly testing.

In September, 2010, the company agreed to sell itself to the Danaher Corporation, a Washington, D.C.–based conglomerate, for $21.60 per share. It was soon merged with Tektronix, Inc, which had been acquired by Danaher in 2007, and now exists wholly as a brand of Tektronix.

History

Joseph F. Keithley founded Keithley Instrument in 1946. His first product, the "Phantom Repeater," amplified low-level electric signals so that they could be measured by more standard equipment. The device was used by physicists, chemists, and engineers in the development of hearing aids and amplifiers. The product enjoyed some success in sales, but it was the next product, an electrometer, that clinched the future for Keithley's fledgling company.

General

The company designs, develops, manufactures and markets electronic instruments and systems geared to the specialized needs of electronics manufacturers for production testing, process monitoring, product development, and research.

The company has approximately 500 products used to source, measure, connect, control or communicate direct current (DC), radio frequency (RF), or optical signals. Product offerings include integrated systems solutions, instruments, and personal computer (PC) plug-in boards that can be used as system components or as stand-alone solutions.

The company's markets are engineers, technicians, and scientists in manufacturing, product development, and research functions.

Keithley operates throughout North America, Asia, and Europe. It develops new solutions for the broader electronics industry, as well as electronic manufacturing production test, semiconductor, telecommunications/wireless and research/education.

Products

Keithley Instruments' major product lines included testing and measurement products such as electrometers, voltmeters, signal generators, data acquisition, and production and benchtop parametric testers and analyzers.

Historical highlights

• 1946 – Founded in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., by Joseph F. Keithley
• 1950 – First employee hired
  • John Yeager, the first employee, died 10 January 2018.
• 1964 – Moved headquarters to Solon, OH
• 1966 – German office opened
• 1967 – UK office opened
• 1991 – Joseph P. Keithley becomes chairman
• 1995 – Listed on New York Stock Exchange
• 1998 – Taiwan office opened
• 2000 – Korea office opened
• 2003 – Santa Rosa, California RF Design center opened (sold to Agilent Technologies 2009)
• 2005 – Singapore office opened
• 2009 – S600 Series parametric test product line discontinued
• 2010 – Agreed to sell itself to the Danaher Corporation, many operations merged with Tektronix
• 2011 – Announcement that most manufacturing will shift from Ohio to China

References

1. "Applications not instruments says Tektronix CEO". 8 December 2010.
2. "Keithley Instruments Inc. History".
3. Schoenberger, Robert (6 June 2011). "Keithley Instruments to move hundreds of manufacturing jobs to China from Solon". The Plain Dealer.

External links

• "Patents owned by Keithley Instruments". US Patent & Trademark Office. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2007.
• "Understanding current switching’s special needs". Cigoy, Dale. Electronic Products.July 1, 2009 . Archived 2022-08-13 at the Wayback Machine
• "Standards Help Ensure Order for Nanotechnology". Tucker, Jonathan. Evaluation Engineering. June 2009.
• "Low Level Measurements Handbook: Precision DC Current, Voltage, and Resistance Measurements". Keithley Instruments, Inc. 7th edition, 2016.

• Technology companies established in 1946
• Technology companies disestablished in 2010
• Electronic test equipment manufacturers
• Defunct companies based in Ohio
• 1946 establishments in Ohio
• 2010 disestablishments in Ohio
• American companies established in 1946
• American companies disestablished in 2010