Austin, TX—Manufacturers now can use off-the-shelf software from National Instruments and Northwest Analytical (NWA) to simultaneously execute automated tests while performing statistical process control (SPC).

"With integration between NI TestStand^™ and NWA Quality Analyst^®, manufacturers perform statistical analysis during their automated tests to immediately detect failure trends," said Haydn Povey, NI TestStand Product Manager. "With this early detection, engineers can quickly identify and correct causes of product failure, which improves product quality, maximizes production yield, and increases company profits."

NI's TestStand is a customizable, ready-to-run test management software that organizes, controls, and executes automated prototype, validation, or production test systems. To monitor and report both time-based parametric and attribute (pass/fail) data, NWA Quality Analyst provides comprehensive SPC capabilities for the tests in the TestStand sequence. Using NI TestStand and NWA Quality Analyst together, manufacturing test engineers can quickly determine product failure and defect trends to improve product quality, maximize yield, and reduce the cost of test.

"NWA Quality Analyst adds value to TestStand by identifying failure trends and analyzing process capability," said Jeffery Cawley, NWA Vice President. "The combination makes a flexible and powerful test system that supports rapid decision making."

About NI

NI (Nasdaq: NATI) leverages commercial technologies, such as industry-standard computers and the Internet, to deliver customer-defined measurement and automation solutions. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 2,700 employees and direct sales offices in more than 35 countries. NI increases the productivity of engineers and scientists worldwide by delivering easy-to-integrate software and modular hardware. In fiscal year 2000, NI recorded its 24th consecutive year of double-digit growth with revenue totaling $410 million. For the past two consecutive years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America.

About NWA

Northwest Analytical Inc. (www.nwasoft.com) is a software developer providing analytical tools for understanding processes and improving quality. NWA Quality Analyst is widely used in industry and known for its ease-of-use and high-quality graphical analyses of statistical information. The NWA suite of SPC software includes NWA Quality Analyst (comprehensive charting and analysis), NWA Quality Monitor (online monitoring), NWA Quality Monitor Supervisor (overview of online SPC) and NWA Quality Analyst Web Server (Web-based SPC reporting and analysis). NWA's software is used by more than 4,500 companies worldwide.

For More Information

For more information, please contact NI, 11500 N Mopac Expwy, Austin, Texas 78759-3504, or tel (800) 258-7022, fax (512) 683-9300, e-mail info@ni.com. Readers also can access the company's Web site at www.ni.com/teststand.

Editor Contacts:
Kathleen Fisher, National Instruments, (512) 683-5731
Jeff Cawley, Northwest Analytical, (503) 224-7727

Reader Contact:
Ernest Martinez, National Instruments, (800) 258-7022

Product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.

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