Innova Electronics Corporation, a leading supplier of test equipment and diagnostic reporting for the automotive aftermarket, today announced that industry veteran Keith Andreasen is rejoining the company as product development supervisor where he will oversee proof of concept development, user interface modeling, and test and validation for the company’s U.S. and global engineering teams. Andreasen is the visionary behind several innovative product developments, including Innova’s industry-leading 3100 OBD tool, which has sold more than 2 million units; the company’s revolutionary test equipment, diagnostic websites and OBDFix database, which have helped millions of people troubleshoot check engine light repairs.
“We are happy to have Keith rejoin our team, as he is an integral part of Innova’s history,” said Ieon C. Chen, CEO, Innova Electronics, Corp. “Keith brings unmatched experience to our product development team with a unique resume encompassing automotive repair shop ownership; as well as dealership, OEM engineering and technical roles, emissions certification and automotive technology instructor experience. A lifelong car guy with a proud Navy background, Keith understands what U.S. vehicle owners and technicians need to fix their vehicles more efficiently. I can’t think of a better person to lead Innova’s product development into the future.”
Andreasen’s career spans more than four decades in the automotive industry, including development and testing of new products, user interfaces and web-based services. Most recently, Andreasen provided technical support for Hyundai Motor America GDS diagnostic tools, equipment and web-based systems to dealers. Prior to that he was the owner of Andreasen’s Japanese Car and SUV Center a Fountain Valley, Calif-based automotive repair shop, which built and maintained the Isuzu SCORE off-road and Pikes Peak hill climb race trucks, and later Andreasen’s R&D for automotive diagnostic product development as well as ASE certification curriculum, teaching and support. He is a member of SAE International and National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF) committee participant.
An ASE Certified Advance-Level Double Master Technician, Andreasen has earned 26 patents from the USPTO in automotive diagnostic innovation that encompasses vehicle on-board, off-board and PC applications. He is also licensed in the state of California to teach the Bureau of Automotive Repair emission program, perform emission inspections, and repair emissions-related faults. Additionally, Andreasen is an expert in the field of OEM diagnostics, specifically for General Motors, Chrysler, Ford, Toyota, Hyundai and Honda vehicles. This experience has been invaluable to Innova when inking licensing agreements with the OEMs to ensure Innova’s OBD tools provide end users with safe and honest access to vehicle data.
He originally joined Innova in November 1996 where he served in several technical support and product development, managerial and director roles until December 2012. During this time, Andreasen oversaw the company’s development of several industry-leading advancements, including professional timing lights with swivel-head design and DIS reading capabilities, and the patented single-screen display with LED emissions test inspection logic that has made Innova’s on-board diagnostic tools the most popular in the industry. Under Andreasen’s leadership, Innova also became the first automotive aftermarket supplier to offer ASE Certified Technical Support telephone support. Most notably, he led the charge in conceptualizing, building and maintaining Innova’s OBD database, which today encompasses a vast knowledgebase able to match DTCs to most likely fixes using technicians’ real life experiences. This database and the methods Andreasen developed to process diagnostic data and determine most likely fixes, cost and service needs, have supported Innova’s RepairSolutions2, the CarMD Vehicle Health Index, OBDFix and a range of industry solutions.
“I’m proud to rejoin Innova – a truly unique breed of company when it comes to developing products the right way, not necessarily the easy way,” said Andreasen. “Innova is committed to the ground-up development and support of products from right here in the USA.”
