NWA SPC Update is a newsletter from Northwest Analytical (NWA), the world's leading provider of statistical process control software. Here you will find the latest SPC news and solutions for manufacturers and laboratories. NWA in 2007Cliff Yee, NWA President, comments on market trends and NWA plans for the coming year. Most NWA customers are involved with international supply chains. Successfully managing the complexities of these supply chains makes timely information flow to decision makers critical. At NWA, we have recognized that our decision makers range from real-time plant floor operators to remote corporate managers in another country, and so our products reflect that usage. In a few weeks, we will be announcing our full range of products translated to Chinese so that we can support our global customers as they source or produce in China. Many of our customers are in the continuous, batch, or hybrid process industries. Process Improvement programs are one of the most important initiatives they have for 2007. Two ARC Advisory Group studies describe how SPC and manufacturing analytics and reporting are critical components of industry plans. You will see NWA provide more easy-to-understand, innovative, statistics-based analytics in our future version releases. We look forward to helping you, our customers, meet these process improvement challenges in 2007.  View Article
Cristal Application ProfileThe National Titanium Dioxide Company Ltd (Cristal) has been manufacturing titanium dioxide (TiO2) using imported rutile ore at its ultra-modern Yanbu Al-Sinaiyah plant in Saudi Arabia since 1991. National markets its products under the well-known Cristal brand. The company goal was to establish itself as a world class manufacturer and improve efficiency, yield and quality. Statistical process control (SPC) is the accepted way to achieve these goals. In addition to using SPC for routine process monitoring, Cristal wanted the capability to run an active Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) program. However, the Yokogawa DCS 3000 system and Exaquantum historian used to monitor and control the process did not provide the required SPC and manufacturing analytics reporting and visualization. The project involved extracting laboratory and control system data from the Exaquantum historian and automating the transfer of the process data into NWA Quality Monitor plant floor workstations. The data is transferred every fifteen minutes, processed and used to update QM operator screens and NWA Quality Monitor Supervisor process status supervisory displays. Operators use the Quality Monitor stations to detect events and to guide process adjustments while supervisory and managerial staff uses the Supervisor screens to alert to process difficulties. This solution was developed through the cooperation of Yokogawa, Intercol, the regional NWA distributor, and NWA technical staff. The Cristal process engineering staff was able to configure and implement the system with the help of the vendors. View Article LIMS Partner Baytek International Signs AgreementLIMS vendor Baytek International has for several years recommended that their customers use NWA Quality Analyst and NWA Quality Analyst Web Server to provide SPC based analytics reporting with their LIMS. Baytek has made the linkage between the product lines more official and signed on as an NWA reseller. NWA software will now be offered as an official component of the Baytek LIMS solution. This represents yet another agreement to incorporate NWA Software into commercial LIMS products to provide the SPC and analytics functions of the system. This continues the history of NWA as the dominant SPC software provider to commercial LIMS systems. View Press Release
Applied SPC with Quality AnalystMarch 12-13, 2007
Portland, OR Course Description
Registration Information
Packaging CasebookPackaging production and filling operations require Statistical Process Control (SPC) monitoring and control to meet regulatory and customer requirements. Northwest Analytical, Inc. (NWA) has published a casebook of application profiles and case studies to describe successful SPC implementations in packaging applications. SPC software from Northwest Analytical is used by packaging producers and users to monitor processes and identify improvements and efficiencies needed to meet exacting customer demands for higher quality and product consistency while keeping costs down. It is also used to analyze products and processes in order to demonstrate compliance with regulatory requirements, ensure consistency in meeting supply chain requirements, and validate test and production procedures. The NWA Packaging Casebook details how producers apply SPC and NWA Software to improve products and processes in packaging production and use. Download this free collection of important articles, application notes, and case studies. More Information Displaying External Documents in Quality MonitorHow do you comply with regulatory, standards and contract requirements for staff access to standard operating procedures (SOPs)? Many users have found that Quality Monitor is the perfect solution to providing immediate plant floor access to current correct SOPs. Using Quality Monitor to display the training and SOP materials contained on your network, database or document manager is the perfect way to provide your staff with current SOPs, simplify document maintenance and maintain version control. In addition, this Quality Monitor application simplifies compliance with regulations, standards and contractual requirements and reduces auditing overheads while increasing the likelihood of successful audits. Since many NWA customers use Quality Monitor as the primary plant-floor user interface for operators and technicians, it is the logical means to display SOPs. With Quality Monitor you can launch an external application or document reader to display SOPs or tutorials in the Quality Monitor interface. By accessing documents from a centralized repository you reduce the overhead of verifying the correct content and maintaining current versions for all users. Quality Monitor (version 2.3 and higher) allows the user to launch an external application such as a document reader. The specific configuration and application is detailed in the NWA Tech Note, “Displaying External Documents in Quality Monitor”. View Article
ArabLABFebruary 11-14, 2007
Dubai, UAE Northwest Analytical will exhibit in booth 109 with our regional distributor Intercol. Jeff Cawley, VP Market Development, will present, “Laboratory SPC: From Analytical Methods to Process Management” on Monday February 12 at 10:20 AM. The talk will discuss how SPC is the standard for managing analytical methods and usually performed in the LIMS context. Since the laboratory is a primary "sensor" of many manufacturing processes, SPC analysis of the data in the LIMS enables successful operational process, supply chain quality, and enterprise management. More Information Food Safety SummitMarch 6-8, 2007
Washington DC Jeff Cawley, VP Market Development will present "Guarantee Your Success, Don’t Just Document Failure," a discussion of how to use SPC to manage your supply chain to maximize food safety, quality, and profit while reducing risk. AbstractFrom ground beef to spinach, we have seen the huge downside of supply chain safety and quality failures. Food processors are faced with the continuing challenges of maximizing food safety while reducing production costs by improving throughput, product yields, and process efficiencies. One effective strategy is to improve the performance of the supply chain. Many customers now mandate their suppliers implement Statistical Process Control (SPC) programs. These programs provide the results of improved food quality and safety while decreasing purchasing costs. Suppliers and customers will not see financial benefits from SPC implementation, if the suppliers feel that all they are required to do is to ship control charts and histograms with the raw product. However, all members of the supply chain can receive large financial and risk reduction benefits if the suppliers actively embrace SPC. The session will examine how simple SPC tools provide the means to develop a detailed understanding of process performance. Case studies will examine the role of SPC and Process Capability Analysis to select and certify vendors, monitor lot acceptance and improve food safety performance. More Information Yokogawa Technology Innovations FairNovember 29-30, 2006
Houston, TX Louis Halvorsen, CTO and Phil Schreiber, VP Sales and Marketing presented the paper, "Integrating Manufacturing Analytics for Batch, Continuous, and Mixed Processes”. The presentation examined how integrating NWA Quality Analyst with Yokogawa’s Exaquantum historian results in a process information management and analysis system that can deliver comprehensive SPC based Manufacturing Analytics for batch, continuous, and mixed processes. The proper application of SPC based Manufacturing Analytics enables companies to meet the challenges of improving processes to reduce costs, increasing yields and detecting potential problems before they turn into defective products or downtime. The presentation demonstrated how the integration of Quality Analyst and Exaquantum can create a system that combines real-time predictive analytics with comprehensive analysis of historical data. The Cristal installation was presented as an example. Food Quality Magazine ArticleFood Quality has published “Food Safety Management Systems for the International Supply Chain.” The article is derived from Jeff Cawley's presentation “Implementing Quality and Food Safety Management Systems” as part of the IFT Quality Assurance Division symposium #058 “Global Supply Chain Quality and Food Safety Management” at the 2006 IFT Annual Meeting. View Article
Users frequently ask us for the most current software release numbers so we publish them on our website. Current Release Numbers
© 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 data collection and supervision, enterprise-wide charting and analysis, web-based reporting and embedded SPC.
| 
