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Minitab Statistical Software was introduced at the 1972 American Statistical Association Meeting. The program was developed at Penn State by three faculty members: Barbara F. Ryan, Thomas A. Ryan, Jr., and Brian L. Joiner. With Minitab, computers could perform the tedious statistical calculations, freeing students to concentrate on learning what really matters -- the statistical concepts. The first copies of Minitab were distributed in 5 boxes of computer cards.
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In their textbook "The MINITAB Student Handbook," Minitab’s founders showed professors how to integrate the use of computer software into the statistics classroom. The combination of the easy-to-learn Minitab software and the Student Handbook changed the way statistics was taught.
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Adopted at 4,000 colleges and universities worldwide, and referenced in over 350 leading textbooks, Minitab becomes the de facto standard for teaching and learning statistics. More students have been taught statistics using Minitab than any other statistics software package.
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As the use of statistical software goes global, The Minitab User Group introduces a newsletter that provides a forum for users to exchange ideas. Today, the Minitab Network on LinkedIn.com serves a similar function.
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With Penn State’s encouragement, Minitab Inc. is formed. For its first few years, the new company leases temporary office space from Penn State, including a suite located behind the university’s Animal Behavior Lab.
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Mainframe computers used proprietary operating systems, so software written for one type of machine would not run on others. However, Minitab was designed to be converted for different operating systems -- in fact, at its maximum, it was ported to run on 35 different platforms. This portability was a distinct advantage at the dawn of the PC era, and Minitab became the first mainframe stat package to be converted to run under DOS.
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Minitab moves out of leased offices at Penn State and opens its first world headquarters building in State College, Pa. The 9,200-square-foot structure allows Minitab to expand its staff by 50%, but anticipating greater expansion in the future, plans are already under way for the construction of an adjoining structure to double the amount of space available.
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In addition to new statistical functions, Minitab 5 introduces high-resolution graphics, making it far easier for users to evaluate the data being plotted and interpret their statistical results.
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Barbara F. Ryan becomes president and CEO. Minitab broadens its focus to include statistical quality improvement as well as academia.
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Minitab Student, a streamlined version for introductory and business statistics courses, is released. This version meets student needs for a low-priced, easy-to-use statistical software package that complements classroom instruction and textbook learning.
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Minitab 7 introduces control charts, the software’s first statistical features for the quality market. PC Magazine names it “Editors’ Choice” as the best statistical software package.
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Minitab achieves status of Referenced Software in the Hewlett-Packard Value-Added Business Program. The recommendation by one of the largest and most respected computer manufacturers in the world attests to Minitab's value in scientific, engineering and commercial applications.
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Making products easy to use has always been a top priority at Minitab. Although Minitab's command-line interface -- the only option available on mainframe computers -- has been hailed as "remarkably easy to use," Minitab 8 introduces a graphical user interface that takes advantage of PC capabilities. Pull-down menus and dialog boxes make accessing commands easier for new and occasional users, though veteran users can bypass the menus and continue to use the command line if they prefer.
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Minitab 9.2 is first version of Minitab for Windows, providing a "powerful statistical engine that's easy to drive." The first Windows release of Minitab offers advances in graphics, general statistics, industrial statistics, and macros.
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Minitab 10 introduces a raft of new features, including dynamic data exchange, enhanced file support, new design of experiment and cluster analysis features, graph editing, and more. Particularly popular among users is the new brushing tool, which lets users highlight one data point or group on a graph and see each value and where it is stored in the data window.
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Minitab’s first international subsidiary, Minitab Ltd., opens in Coventry, England. Minitab Ltd. provides sales, training, and technical support to Minitab customers in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
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As part of their Six Sigma quality improvement initiatives, Allied Signal and General Electric adopt Minitab enterprise-wide. The wide-scale use of Minitab at these companies, the decision of key consultants to use and recommend Minitab, publicity from the press, and word of mouth about Six Sigma were instrumental in establishing Minitab's credibility as the premier statistical package in the quality improvement field.
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Fueled by strong demand from academic and commercial French-speaking customers, Minitab's first French-language software release displays full online help, documentation, menus, and output in French. Additional language-specific enhancements include 100 metric data sets featuring localized infomration and commas to define decimal points. The beta release debuts April 9 at the Stat Expo in Paris.
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Minitab offers its first public training sessions in response to businesses that want to provide employees with in-depth training on data analysis. Minitab's trainers show participants how to use Minitab step-by-step with real-world examples. Along the way, they also explain the statistical concepts behind the software.
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Minitab 12 introduces flexibility to let users open as many data sheets as needed, export graphs to any application, and save all pieces of a Minitab session in a single file. It also offers the power to handle almost any problem in the broad field of quality statistics, from statistical process control to survival analyses.
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Minitab SARL is established in Paris. Minitab SARL serves French-speaking Minitab customers in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and elsewhere in Europe and Africa.
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Minitab Statistical Software wins Scientific Computing and Instrumentation’s Readers’ Choice Award for QA/QC software. Minitab also received the Pennsylvania Governor's Export Excellence Award in 1999.
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The Project Manager, ReportPad, and StatGuide are lauded features added to Minitab 13.
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Minitab moves into its present World Headquarters building in State College, Pa. The 88,000-square-foot building features a four-story atrium, training center, video conference studio, fitness center, game room, and a forty-seat media center.
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Minitab 14's most significant enhancement is its greatly expanded and simplified graph creation and editing, including the ability to automatically update your graphs when data in the worksheet have changed. The release also offers users new quality tools including multivariate control charts and process capability analysis, enhanced attribute gage R&R, partial least squares, expanded DOE, and additional reliability analysis methods.
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Minitab Korean 14 begins shipping in early June. It contains the same comprehensive collection of methods and ease of use features that have made Minitab the leading package for quality improvement around the world.
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Minitab releases Minitab Japanese 14 as part of its ongoing efforts to provide Japanese quality improvement professionals with the best tools possible. “Japanese business and industry are known for quality excellence, and leading professionals are using Minitab," says Barbara Ryan, Minitab's president and chief executive officer. “A Japanese language version of MINITAB will help them more easily implement their programs. It is our way of demonstrating that we are committed to their success.”
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For the fifth straight year, Minitab receives Scientific Computing & Instrumentation’s Readers' Choice Award for Statistical Software.
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Minitab 15 offers more than 50 new features including enhanced Gage R&R functions. Minitab 15 also introduces the software's first German and Simplified Chinese versions. Minitab also launches Quality Trainer, an online course that teaches statistics used in Lean Six Sigma projects.
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Minitab Pty Ltd, the company's third subsidiary, opens in Australia. This full-service office located in Sydney furthers the company's mission to provide professionals worldwide with the tools and resources they need to improve their processes.
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Frost & Sullivan, the world’s leading growth consulting company, presented Minitab its 2007 Customer Value Leadership of the Year Award in the quality compliance, manufacturing productivity and statistical process control market. It recognizes Minitab for providing exceptional software and services that help customers make the best use of their resources and maximize their profits.
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Minitab announces the release of a Spanish version of Minitab® 15 Statistical Software as part of its ongoing efforts to help its Spanish-speaking customers achieve their quality improvement goals. Having access to Spanish translations of Minitab makes it easier for Spanish-speaking quality professionals to focus on the processes they want to improve, and deepens Minitab's commitment to providing Spanish-language solutions for quality professionals.
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A research brief from the Aberdeen Group links Minitab to successful Lean Six Sigma efforts and indicates that companies using Minitab products get better results from their Lean Six Sigma programs. A summary of the brief on Aberdeen's Web site concludes, “Through rigorous application of Six Sigma methodologies and more effective application of technology tools, the average Minitab customer far exceeds average performance.”
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Minitab 16 offers new functionality and features. The most prominent is the Assistant, a menu-based tool designed to guide users through their analyses and help them interpret their results with confidence. Minitab 16 is available in English, French, German, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Documentation is available in several other languages.
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Minitab 16.2 adds four new control charts to those already available in the software: Laney P' and U' charts, and G and T charts. Where traditional control charts can potentially indicate that a stable process is out of control, especially when large amounts of data are collected, Laney charts ensure that only important deviations in the process are detected. Hospitals, clinics and surgery centers can use Minitab’s new G and T control charts to monitor rare events.
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Minitab kicks off its 40th anniversary celebration at the American Society for Quality's 2012 World Conference in Anaheim, California.
