Welcome to NWA SPC Update, a newsletter from the world's leading provider of SPC software, featuring the latest solutions from NWA and SPC-related news in manufacturing and the laboratory.

Industry News

Kettle Foods– SPC Enables Artisan Quality Snacks

Kettle Foods (Salem, Oregon) has built its reputation on batch made gourmet potato chips. Kettle™ brand Potato Chips are the number one salt snack brand in natural supermarkets today. And now, Kettle Foods is taking the challenge to expand its presence in mainline supermarkets and to compete with the big mass production chips. Kettle Foods has used NWA Quality Analyst as part of their program to maintain the quality of the artisan potato chip and scale up from small scale craft operation to high volume production.

http://www.nwasoft.com/appnotes/kettlefoods.pdf

Westland Meat Top Quality Performer in National School Lunch Program

Silliker Laboratories Deliver Food Quality and Safety Data to Enable National School Lunch Program Success

The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has developed one of the most effective preferred vendor and supply chain quality management systems in the food industry for the purchase of ground beef for the National School Lunch Program. The AMS has incorporated best practices from other industries and merged in the need to guarantee food safety to produce a world class system.

Supply Chain Management in the Purchase of Ground Beef
http://www.nwasoft.com/appnotes/usdagrbeef.htm

Supply Chain Quality Management
http://www.nwasoft.com/webcasts/20050330.htm

In addition to the AMS activities, we now bring the stories of other participants in this supply chain to profile the complete story. For example, one of the top performing vendors in the program has been Westland Meat Company in Chino, California. Westland was awarded the Supplier of the Year for 2004-2005 for the National School Lunch Program.
http://www.nwasoft.com/appnotes/westland.pdf

Silliker, Inc., an international network of ISO 17025 accredited food testing and consulting laboratories, has provided microbiological and food quality analytical services to support supply chain quality in the National School Lunch Program over the past year. Silliker sends data and SPC deliverables to both the AMS and the vendors, providing complete transparency along the supply chain.
http://www.nwasoft.com/appnotes/silliker.pdf

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Upcoming Product and SPC Training

Applied SPC with NWA Quality Analyst

Participants gain expertise using NWA Quality Analyst while applying statistical quality control techniques in classroom exercises. The class then works in teams to solve problems in a simulated manufacturing process. Attendees learn how to maximize their use of NWA Quality Analyst while brushing up on SPC.

To view the full course description, see:
http://www.nwasoft.com/semspcqa.htm

To view accommodations and registration information, see:
http://www.nwasoft.com/semtrain.htm

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Events and Publications

IFT ANNUAL MEETING & FOOD EXPO - BOOTH # 3835
June 25 - 27, Orlando, FL

NWA will exhibit at the IFT Food Expo in booth 3835. NWA will show its quality software suite and how it enables food safety and quality management. Please call Lori Reed at 503-224-7727 to schedule appointments.

Jeffery Cawley, NWA VP of Market Development, will chair and speak in Symposium 058, ‘Global Supply Chain Quality and Food Safety Management’, Tuesday June 27, 2006 9:00 AM - 11:35 AM. The symposium is sponsored by the IFT Quality Assurance Division. Cawley’s presentation is 058-05 ‘Implementing quality and food safety management systems’

http://www.am-fe.ift.org/cms/

NWA ARTICLES PUBLISHED ON SIXSIGMAZONE Two NWA articles were chosen to be published on the SixSigmaZone website: ‘NWA Manufacturing Analytics’ and ‘ISA-95: The Manufacturing System Standard That Makes Manufacturing Analytics Possible.’ Read more about the enterprise analytics and reporting environments that make it possible to expand Six Sigma and other process management methodologies into all areas of corporate management. http://www.sixsigmazone.com/articles SPC FOR FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY AT 2006 FOOD SAFETY SUMMIT Jeffery Cawley, VP Market Development, chaired and spoke at Session QA301, ‘QA by the Numbers: Uncovering the Data That Will Improve Your Quality’. The session examined the role of SPC in food safety and quality management including industry case studies. Cawley presented “SPC for Food Safety and Quality” and Steve Olson, USDA AMS, discussed the food safety and quality management system he developed for the National School Lunch Program. http://www.nwasoft.com/fss2006.html

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Current NWA Product Release Numbers

Users frequently ask us for the most current software release numbers so we publish them on our website.

To view current NWA product release numbers, see:
http://www.nwasoft.com/releasenumbers.htm

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© Northwest Analytical, Inc., all rights reserved. NWA Quality Monitor, NWA Quality Monitor Supervisor, NWA Quality Analyst, NWA Quality Analyst Web Server, NWA QAx, and NWA SPCx are trademarks or registered trademarks of Northwest Analytical. *All other company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of those respective companies.

Northwest Analytical (NWA) is the leading provider of SPC software with more than 50,000 licenses shipped to over 5,000 companies. NWA software is recognized for its ease-of-use and ability to integrate with other software and systems. The NWA SPC software suite includes plant floor quality data collection, enterprise-wide SPC charting and analysis, web-based reporting, and embedded SPC.

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