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A recent (October 19, 2001) article in COMPUTERWORLD (Polish version) described how ALSTOM Power Elblag Sp. z o.o., a top manufacturer of turbine castings, uses STATISTICA Enterprise/QC to optimize its production processes and ensure quality.
Jerzy Slawinski, ALSTOM Power's quality manager, speaks highly of STATISTICA Enterprise/QC in the article, "The STATISTICA Enterprise/QC system is not just a package that runs on the computer on the desk of an analyst. It is an integrated solution which links production, data acquisition, database and analytical parts."
"About 30 operators and engineers" and "a wide group of managers use the system" for data collection, data management, and statistical analysis. The entire process was described in the article: "STATISTICA Enterprise/QC continuously retrieves data: first, components and raw materials characteristics are measured (this additionally controls reliability of the suppliers), then characteristics of moulding sand (tensile strength and permeability), furnace charge, fire-clay moulders, melted metal composition and pouring process are monitored, parameters of heat treatment recorded, casting quality is measured (repair welding factor), dimensional compatibility checked. Each cast generates several hundred records of data. The factory produces over 400 tons of casts each month. Measurement data are retrieved by the system automatically or sent to the system by operators with measurement devices or keyboard data entry. STATISTICA Enterprise/QC stores measurement data in an external database (in this case it is an Oracle database) and runs on a network server."
Slawinski says, "The global market in our sector is very competitive. Turbine castings dropped in prices by 50% in the last 5 years. In this situation, quality is not a negotiable option, we talk only about costs and time to delivery. Producers who will not manage to change in time will not stay in this market." The comprehensive analytical tools, flexible alarm notification, interactive query facilities, and many other innovative features in STATISTICA Enterprise/QC help ALSTOM Power meet these essential quality standards.
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For the fifth consecutive year, STATISTICA has been rated one of the top five products in statistical software by Scientific Computing & Instrumentation, a popular magazine among scientists and engineers. Published in the December 2001 issue, the annual selection is based on the products generating the most reader interest, as indicated by the use of the Reader Service Card, in a variety of product categories.
Felix Grant, writer for Scientific Computing World, has just published a praise-filled review of STATISTICA 6 - "STATISTICA goes from Strength to Strength". The title seems appropriate, since throughout the review Grant praises practically every new feature in the program!
In general of STATISTICA 6 Grant says, "Down in the works, among the actual processes that a statistical package is there to perform, there are too many small enhancements, evolutions and developments to detail."
Here are some direct quotes from the article that give you an idea of Grants thoughts on STATISTICA 6 features:
On Customization - "Further evolution of the customisation potential is another welcome feature - STATISTICA has always been highly configurable to suit the user and environment; this quality has now been extended considerably. Option defaults are extensive, and most interface artefacts can now be created, moved, modified or removed in a rapid, efficient, highly intuitive manner. Menu customisation is mesmerically addictive, so easily can objects be moved from one place to another as if playing with children’s building blocks." "The ability to provide each user (or each group of users) with a version of the analytic tools best suited to their needs, extraneous distractions hidden or removed, is invaluable. Productivity is further enhanced if the user can adopt mnemonics and layouts that mimic other regularly-used software - and this, too, is now easier than ever."
On Graphics - "Control, throughout, is effortless and precise. " "Staying with the visual, STATISTICA's already impressive graphics technology has been further developed. There are now a hierarchical style system and intelligent format painting, which (once I was used to them) greatly cut the time and fiddle involved in tuning final output, as do new options in output design."
On VB - "A variety of professional problems that I encountered during this period were solved quickly, efficiently and glossily with VB-automated STATISTICA, with or without other application interactions. These ranged from data repair macros, and mimic routines for the expert mentioned above, to online data polling and direct data logging, to a sudden need for HTML reports updated on a minute-by-minute basis."
On System Limits - "STATISTICA as a whole has been overhauled to allow what seems to be more or less unlimited external data access power. Internal limits have also been removed - or, at least, I think they have. StatSoft makes use of the word 'practically' more than once in these contexts, which leaves the ambiguous possibility that limits still lurk out there somewhere. Whatever boundaries may remain, however, I haven't found them - despite a determined attempt, using access to a terabyte store, which tied up my 1GHz/1024Mb machine for more than 36 hours but eventually completed."
On Web functionality - "Most software products are evolving to survive in this new environment; and STATISTICA is now very strong in the Internet or Intranet capability department."
A new survey conducted by SCIENCE (the publication of the American Association for Advancement of Science; circulation: over 150,000) of a randomly selected sample of its readers has provided data on how StatSoft, Inc. is perceived by the community of scientists and administrators of science. The following are unedited statements about StatSoft, Inc. and its products volunteered anonymously by the respondents. The data for the surveys, sponsored by SCIENCE magazine, were collected by the Harvey Research Organization, Fairport, New York. The following selection of excerpts has been accepted by SCIENCE for use in this material (reprinted by permission of SCIENCE and Harvey Research Organization):
"I have used StatSoft [STATISTICA] before(...). You can't beat them." -- Professor of Biology, University
"I know a lot of people that use it (...). The [STATISTICA] graphics are awesome." -- Research Assistant, University
"We use this in many of our departments. The university appreciates its versatility." -- Professor of Biology, University
"They make excellent statistical software." -- Genetic Toxicologist, Industry
"(...) They have a great series of software packages." -- Associate Professor, University
"(...) I think that StatSoft has a good thing going with this product. You can do a lot with it." -- Associate Professor, University
"(...) I use their statistical package. I need to get another program from them. They have good quality." -- Professor, Medical School
"I do know this company. I have a good image of them." -- President, Industry
"I am familiar with this company. I have a good opinion of them." -- Program Leader, Industry
"I think that StatSoft is excellent." -- Vice President of R&D, Industry
"I like their statistics package because you can use it in all different fields. We have used it to make some of our displays. (...) I have always been impressed by them." -- Botany Curator, Museum
"They have some excellent software. Some of it is very useful. I think the company is on the cutting-edge."" -- Microbiologist, Government
"I have a good image of this company." -- Asst. Professor, University
"(...) I am very impressed with them." -- Sr. Research Associate, Laboratory
STATISTICA 6 (Beta) recently received a very warm welcome from reviewer Felix Grant in the review "The future is here...at last" in the July/August issue of Scientific Computing World. Grant begins by reviewing the most obvious change from previous version, the interface, and describes the STATISTICA 6 interface as "extensively customizable to reflect your own requirements." He continues, "This ability to shape a working environment in the interests of maximum personal or team usefulness has, of course, always been one of STATISTICA's strong points; but the means now reflect current Windows trends." He goes on to compare the functionality in STATISTICA favorably against that of one of the most popular software products in the world, "Menus adapt automatically to application frame context, in a way that is better managed and more flexible than Microsoft's, and customization can be made to reflect this. So far, I have not yet hit the limits of this customization potential." In the remainder of the review Grant praises many other areas of the program, including the new integrated STATISTICA Visual Basic - "well cool", the workbook system - "a definite advance," and many others... "Graphics benefit from an impressive range of incremental improvements with new types, more visual and intuitive access selection, enhanced brushing and zooming, style management, and interactive sectioning of 3D constructs. There are new statistical procedures in modelling and data mining, and improvements in a swathe of others. The whole package, never slow on its feet, has gained noticeably in speed and responsiveness." After running STATISTICA alongside competing products Grant concludes, "I have become a fan (of STATISTICA), encountering only superior performance, enhanced handling and no glitches."
The July 9th issue of The Scientist featured a brief overview of some of the most commonly used statistical software tools on the market, and STATISTICA's description clearly stands out among the descriptions of its peers. In his introduction to the comprehensive statistical tools available, Author Paul Wolf notes that "Several large packages are geared toward the statistical expert. These are often more flexible, and some can handle larger and more complex data than their smaller brethren can. Familiarity (and effective instruction) can make even the most cumbersome software user-friendly, but the general trend is toward ease-of-use across the spectrum." However, later in the same section, he introduces STATISTICA by saying "The difference between simple and relatively inflexible packages and complex and versatile ones is not necessarily clear cut." Wolf describes STATISTICA as "a very flexible and widely-used application that could appeal to both experts and beginners" and goes on to say, "the entire approach to the software is scalable, and quality of output is excellent".
For the fourth year in a row, STATISTICA has been rated one of the top five products in statistical software by Scientific Computing & Instrumentation, a popular magazine among scientists and engineers. Determined by reader response to items published in over a 12 month period, Scientific Computing & Instrumentation published the year 2000 winners in the recent July 2001 issue. Editors chose the products that generate the most reader interest, as indicated by the use of the Reader Service Card, in a wide variety of product categories.
For a fifth consecutive year STATISTICA has received high marks from Scientific Computing and Instrumentation readers in multiple categories. STATISTICA is the winner in the QA/QC software category for the second year in a row in Scientific Computing and Instrumentation's July issue. STATISTICA is also a finalist in the category of statistical software.
STATISTICA recently received the Reader's Choice Award and the highest ranking ("Finalist") among general purpose statistics software packages in the "AI Software (Expert, Neural)" category of the Reader's Choice Awards published in the 2001 Bonus issue of Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities. Next to STATISTICA, only very specialized packages, designed specifically for trading/forecasting, received accolades. No other general purpose statistical software package was even mentioned in the results of the vote. The additional fact that StatSoft products have never been advertised in this publication, so readers know STATISTICA only from other sources, makes this award especially flattering.
In the February 2001 issue of DM Review magazine, STATISTICA Enterprise/QC received a glowing review from Photronics, a leading worldwide supplier of photomasks, high precision quartz plates used in the manufacture of semiconductors. In 2000, after a team from Photronics conducted a thorough investigation of several SPC packages, they chose the unique scalability and versatility of STATISTICA Enterprise/QC in order to guarantee the quality of its products shipped to consumers. Photronics recently implemented STATISTICA Enterprise/QC at six sites internationally and plans to have six more sites on-line by March 2001. STATISTICA Enterprise/QC was selected because of its ease of integration with Photronics' existing manufacturing execution system and because it provided flexibility beyond the existing system. According to Barbara Manville, Photronics director of corporate software development, StatSoft representatives worked diligently to resolve issues specific to their organization. Manville stated, "The best part of working with StatSoft has been the expertise of the technical support staff who are well versed in both statistics and the inner workings of the package."
Click here to read the complete review.