NWA Partners with ASECO to Deliver a Complete Integrated Quality System.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 4, 2004

Northwest Analytical, Inc. (NWA), the leading provider of statistical process control (SPC) software, and ASECO Integrated Systems, a leading manufacturing consulting and system integration firm, announced a partnership to deliver a new approach to Quality Information Systems. The partnership combines the industry's leading off-the-shelf SPC solutions with an open, flexible, scalable database design, plus a set of integration tools that simplifies implementation, reduces integration costs, exposes all quality data and shortens project timelines.

Unlike competing products that typically use pre-defined database structures, the NWA/ASECO solution is tailored to meet individual customer needs, scaled to meet future requirements and easily integrated with other information systems. The database design is optimized for NWA products, minimizing configuration, training and support requirements, while continuing the NWA tradition of providing SPC solutions that are powerful, yet easy to use.

This new approach is especially attractive to corporations with multi-plant operations that require scalable, reusable quality software solutions installed and serviced by an experienced systems integrator, such as ASECO. Through this partnership, a best-in-class quality solution is available to all companies that need an underlying database for their NWA SPC software tools.

"Quality information systems are an integral part of the performance management environment because they provide critical process intelligence to the entire enterprise from operations management to supply chain partners," said Tom Fiske, senior analyst, ARC Advisory Group. Fiske continues, "Companies are looking for systems that are flexible, easy to deploy and use, capable of integrating data from multiple sources, and are scalable to provide a path forward for future growth while preserving their initial investment in the solution. The partnership places both companies in a strong position to solve the needs of performance-driven manufacturing organizations that require up-to-date process information to operate more effectively."

"NWA is especially pleased to be partnering with ASECO," said Cliff Yee, president and CEO of NWA. "ASECO is a leading provider of information management solutions for a wide range of clients, with particular expertise in the process industries and highly regulated environments. The company has an outstanding reputation for implementing and supporting standards-based database applications, and our partnership will enable NWA to provide more companies with a complete quality solution."

"We are pleased that NWA chose to partner with ASECO," added Rob Peters, president of ASECO. "NWA quality solutions are widely used, and now, with an underlying database that we can reuse and scale to client specifications, we can offer our customers a superior solution for monitoring and analyzing their process and production KPI metrics."

About NWA Quality Analyst(R) and NWA Quality Monitor(R)

NWA Quality Analyst is the award-winning SPC charting and analysis software used by world-class manufacturers to improve their processes and meet vendor certification and regulatory compliance requirements. It provides the best combination of power, flexibility and ease-of-use of any SPC software available while conforming to the most stringent technical requirements.

NWA Quality Monitor helps companies manage and improve their manufacturing and laboratory processes, improve product quality and reduce costs by automating the collection of test station data, standardizing testing and data collection workflow procedures, and providing real-time SPC throughout the operation.

About Northwest Analytical

Northwest Analytical (NWA) is the world's leading provider of SPC software, with more than 50,000 licenses shipped to over 5,000 companies. NWA software is recognized for its power, ease-of-use and tight integration with other manufacturing systems. The NWA SPC software suite includes products for plant floor QA/QC data collection and monitoring, charting and analysis, enterprise reporting and real-time, embedded SPC. For more information, contact Northwest Analytical at [e-mail], call 888-692-7638 or 503-224-7727, or visit www.nwasoft.com.

About ASECO

ASECO Integrated Systems Ltd. is one of North America's leading consulting and systems integration firms. Since the company's inception in 1988, ASECO has earned an industry reputation for implementing successful solutions on time and on budget. ASECO offers services in the areas of manufacturing controls and automation systems and in Collaborative Production Management (CPM) implementation.

(C) Northwest Analytical, Inc., all rights reserved. NWA Quality Analyst and NWA Quality Monitor are trademarks or registered trademarks of Northwest Analytical. All other company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of those respective companies.