Cutting Edge Design Leads to Another Prestigious Business Week/IDSA Award for Fluke

Cutting edge design leads to another prestigious Business Week/IDSA award for Fluke

Multifunction tester designed for European electricians selected by industrial design competition judges

EVERETT, WA – Fluke Corporation, the world’s leading supplier of test and measurement equipment, announced today that the Fluke 1650 Multifunction Tester has won a Silver Award in the annual IDSA/Business Week magazine industrial design competition. The honor marks the second year in a row Fluke has won an award in the competition.

Introduced to the European market in 2003, the Fluke 1650 tester represents a revolutionary leap in design. Multifunction testers are the front line tool for European electricians, who use them to verify the safety of electrical installations in domestic, commercial and industrial applications.

“Our voice-of-the-customer research indicated that multifunction testers are hung from the neck, allowing two hands free to set up and conduct testing as well as record results,” noted George McCain, Industrial Design Manager for Fluke. “As an all in one tool with many measurement capabilities, they have traditionally been large and bulky and not comfortable at all. In fact, most testers you find in Europe will weigh somewhere between 5 to 8 pounds. With the Fluke 1650 tester, we were able to pack a maximum amount of functionality into a streamlined, bow-shaped tool that fits comfortably against the operator’s stomach and weighs a mere 2 ½ pounds. The electricians love it.”

Smaller and lighter than other multifunction testers, Fluke’s designers also spent considerable time with the user interface, creating large, thumb-friendly controls.

“The need for a more compact design was obvious from our many conversations with electricians,” noted Jan Roetman, Fluke General Manager for Europe. “But often times asking people what they would like gets you only half of the solution. We also spent hours observing electricians at work, and it became apparent to us that we could dramatically reduce the time required to conduct tests by simplifying the tester controls. By creating a tester that requires minimal training, is simple to use and allows the electrician to quickly transition from one test to the next, we’ve improved productivity. This allows electrical contractors to conduct more tests and increase their revenue without the need for additional staff or equipment.”

In addition to voltage, frequency, insulation resistance, continuity, and loop impedance testing, the Fluke 1650 tester also performs prospective short-circuit/ fault current, RCD, earth resistance and phase sequence testing. Up to 500 test results can be stored in the Fluke 1653 installation tester. The data stored for each measurement consists of the test function, user selectable test conditions and unique references. The Fluke 1653 has an IR port and adaptor to enable the results to be uploaded to a computer for preparing professional reports using (optional) FlukeView™ Forms software.

This is the second year in a row the Industrial Design team at Fluke has won an IDSA/Business Week award, given annually to the best industrial design products from around the world. Fluke has also been recognized by leading design forums and is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt museum.

For more information on Fluke test and measurement products, visit www.fluke.com or contact Fluke Corporation, P.O. Box 9090, Everett, WA USA 98206, call (888) 492-7544, fax (425) 446-5116, or e-mail fluke-info@fluke.com.

About Fluke
Fluke Corporation is the global leader in test and measurement technology. Fluke products are used by technicians and engineers in calibration, service, installation, maintenance, manufacturing test, and quality functions in a variety of industries throughout the world.