Autometer made in China!

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V-100

V-100

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Short and sweet of this is that I just bought a set of gauges from Marshall Instruments. Now the only reason I bought from them is that they are a well-respected maker of industrial gauges found in our chiller plants and such at Microsoft. I looked online for them and imagine my surprise when I discovered they make auto & marine stuff!
Today I called down to their offices in California and ended up talking to one of their tech guys. I mentioned how & why I found them and that I was pleasantly surprised that 'apples-to-apples' Marshall Instruments were less expensive than Autometer.
He then dropped a bombshell- he asked me "where do you think they are made?" I said Indiana or Illinois last I knew. Dead wrong- they might assemble some stuff here in NA, but everything comes from China. Also, Autogauge is the cheaper priced/lower line but the quality between the two lines is not there any longer. Essentially, they have cut their cost to produce their product as well as the quality, but charge as much as ever...makes me laugh like I do when I hear people talk about the reason they buy german/european cars is because they are of such high quality and engineering (sorry, they are nightmares. I have friends with shops and the **** I see in those cars is laughable)
So, if you want to support a less expensive, higher quality product made in the USA...


http://www.marshallinstruments.com/
 
You guys are welcome- I want to keep money here in the US, Canada, and even Mexico as much as possible. I hate it when I can't make a choice or are mislead into thinking its made here but ,nope, it's from China...
 
V-100 said:
You guys are welcome- I want to keep money here in the US, Canada, and even Mexico as much as possible. I hate it when I can't make a choice or are mislead into thinking its made here but ,nope, it's from China...
Click to expand...

It's just not the money but 99% of the time our products are a lot better quality than from China.
 
I thought the Autometer branded guages were still made in Illinois and the Autoguage branded one were their cheaper china made line.
 
Nope- they are all Chinese and the gap in quality between Autometer and Autogauge is about nil...
 
wow it has been a long time that i have bought gauges but made in china that sucks
 
Marshall Instruments, made in USA and have a great rep in the facilities and industrial world. Now making automotive and marine gauges!
 
Just got this reply back from Autometer today:

Hello Craig,

Thank you for the inquiry. You would be correct with your statement of the Auto Meter gauges being made here in Sycamore, IL and the Autogage line being imported. The Autogage line is imported which allows us to keep them competitively priced against some of our lesser expensive competition.

In regards to Auto Meter gauges, we build them in house and source as many American made internal parts as we can. We go to the lengths of building our own circuit boards, screen printing our own dials, and winding our own meter movements. I have linked a video below that shows you some more information on our company's stand on American made products.

[ame="http://youtu.be/5jIbjSIjYqs"]http://youtu.be/5jIbjSIjYqs[/ame]

Let me know if I can assist you with anything else.


Thank you,
Kevin
Tech/Service

Auto Meter Products
413 W Elm St.
Sycamore IL 60178
1-866-248-6357


Figured I'd see what they had to say instead of just speculating.
 
I saw this thread cruising Google and had to respond here.

Full disclosure: I am an employee of Auto Meter and work in Sycamore, IL at the factory.

Continued disclosure: my comments are not the opinions of Auto Meter, simply mine as a person.

With that said, I am borderline offended by this. My job, the way I provide for my family is something I take a great deal of pride in. I take a great deal of pride in the company I work for. I take a great deal of pride in the way we conduct ourselves as a business.

Not only does Auto Meter go out of their way to buy every component we can in the US, we try to buy every component we can from (and use vendors in) our own county. We support a decent chunk of a local economy in a small farming community west of Chicago. This is a mom and pop style operation, not some faceless corporation trying to tweak every last dollar to profit shareholders.

We go so far as to print circuit boards in house, to wind our own meter movements in house. I know for a fact we are the only TS/ISO certified manufacturer of the micro air core in the US.

I took some pictures personally of the factory here and the manufacturing process and posted them on the Auto Meter Facebook page. Most of what we do is still built by hand! I'd welcome you to take a look and judge for yourself, but Auto Meter branded products are built in Sycamore, IL as they have been since this plant opened in '79. And since '57, they've been built in Northern Illinois.

I've used my real name and would welcome any questions/comments. Thanks all!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150656430280587.690439.282128680586&type=3
 
V-100 said:
Nope- they are all Chinese and the gap in quality between Autometer and Autogauge is about nil...
Click to expand...

I just bought 4 new Autometer gauges. All 4 made in the USA. I think you might be wrong.

Sounds like this Tech you talked to is slandering the competition with half-truths.
 
Joseph, I appreciate you coming online and defending your employer. Wwe could stand to have a little more loyalty in business today.
I for one still like the look of the Autometer gauges and have begun purchasing the American Muscle gauges for my 73 Dart. I will take your word that they are made in America. But as someone before me said, "Made" may be open to interpretation. Is every part made in America, or are the smaller pieces made in China and the final assembly and troubleshooting sent to America to be finished in Illinois? I'm not making accusations, just confirming.

So thanks again for coming on and giving us your side. And just let me know when you need my address to send me a new set of gauges.:razz:

Jason
 
Regardless of the Auto Meter "American-ness" those Marshall gauges have a nice look to them. Thanks V-100.
 
1jstrong said:
Joseph, I appreciate you coming online and defending your employer. Wwe could stand to have a little more loyalty in business today.
I for one still like the look of the Autometer gauges and have begun purchasing the American Muscle gauges for my 73 Dart. I will take your word that they are made in America. But as someone before me said, "Made" may be open to interpretation. Is every part made in America, or are the smaller pieces made in China and the final assembly and troubleshooting sent to America to be finished in Illinois? I'm not making accusations, just confirming.

So thanks again for coming on and giving us your side. And just let me know when you need my address to send me a new set of gauges.:razz:

Jason
Click to expand...

There's definitely some interpretation in the eyes of the law in terms of what can be called "made" or "built" or whatever terminology is used. I'll leave the legal stuff to those folks as it's not an area I know much about.

As for the actual specifics, the circuit boards, meter movements and physical components are manufactured from raw materials here in our shop (check out the pics; you won't see many US companies that build their own boards in any industry). This is basically everything. Most of the dials are hand screened and done totally in house (pics of that too). Some of the dial designs are done by an engraving shop right down the road from us.

In every instance it's possible, these raw materials are purchased domestically and as I stated before, if possible, in Dekalb County. It's a sad state of affairs and gets into a greater social commentary, but there are certain raw materials for creating circuit boards that simply can't be purchased domestically for any price. American industry has conceded defeat to cheaper off shore companies on some small electrical components. This is another topic for another conversation, but speaks to our commitment. If a US made component exists or even if we can convince a vendor to build us one, that's the direction we go.

Ultimately, as a company that has lead the market for 50+ years, we see small competitors come and go. Competition is an awesome thing. It makes us and everyone in our industry better. Choice is an awesome thing. We've got 3000+ active part numbers now plus (literally) trillions of combinations a person can design themselves through our Custom Shop website. But cars are about individual expression, and as much as we'd love to earn business, there may be another gauge out there that simply fits the character of the car better.

I hope it speaks volumes that we haven't ever found it necessary to bad mouth other manufacturers and spread completely unfounded lies in order to attempt to win a sale. We'll let the products and our history speak for itself. We're a bunch of weekend racers that build gauges so we can put parts on our cars. We build the kind of product we want for our own cars. Many thanks all!
 
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