Press Release Examples — Industrial
Amazon-style Working Backwards press releases written before building, for Northfield Automation's NFA-500 platform.
The industrial twist: the reader is skeptical by profession. A controls engineer discounts superlatives automatically, so the claims have to be the kind you could be held to on a plant floor.
Example 1: Good Press Release (NFA-500, written before development)
**Headline:**
"Northfield Automation Launches NFA-500 to Cut Line Diagnostic Time from Hours to Minutes"
**Dateline:**
Cleveland, OH, USA, March 3, 2026 —
**Introduction:**
Today Northfield Automation, a retrofit control systems manufacturer, announced the NFA-500, a
modular control platform that lets maintenance teams identify a failed input at the panel instead
of tracing it with a meter. Built for plants running production lines too valuable to replace, the
NFA-500 modernizes control and diagnostics while the machine keeps running.
**Problem:**
When a retrofit-controlled line stops, the technician standing at the panel gets one fault light.
Finding the actual cause means pulling the panel and testing points one at a time — typically 45 to
90 minutes before the first corrective action. If the technician guesses wrong and swaps the
controller, re-commissioning costs another two hours. Plants absorb this as "downtime," without
knowing how much of it is diagnosis rather than repair.
**Solution:**
The NFA-500 surfaces fault information down to the individual I/O slot, readable on the unit
without a laptop, software, or network connection. Modules are replaced individually, so a failed
input costs one module swap rather than a controller replacement and re-commissioning. Firmware
updates apply remotely during scheduled maintenance windows, with automatic rollback if an update
fails.
**Quote from Company Leader:**
"We spent two years watching technicians diagnose faults at three in the morning," said the VP of
Product at Northfield Automation. "Every one of them had a notebook of fault codes they'd worked
out themselves, because the controller wouldn't tell them. That notebook is the product spec."
**How It Works:**
Install the NFA-500 in the existing panel using the standard mounting kit. Configure I/O modules
for the line's input and output count. When a fault occurs, the front panel names the slot and the
fault type. Swap the module, power up, and the controller resumes without re-commissioning the rest
of the configuration.
**Customer Quote:**
"Last month a line went down at 2am and I knew which module before I opened my toolbox," said a
maintenance technician at a Midwest parts manufacturer. "That used to be an hour of testing. I was
back up before the shift supervisor finished his coffee."
**Call to Action:**
Request a retrofit assessment at northfield-automation.com/nfa500 or contact your channel partner
for a site evaluation.Why this works:
- The headline names a measurable change, not an attribute. "Hours to minutes" is falsifiable — which is the point of writing this before you build.
- The problem section quantifies the pain honestly, including the part nobody measures: plants log "downtime" without separating diagnosis from repair. That reframe is the insight.
- The leader's quote earns its place. "That notebook is the product spec" tells you the team did the research and what they concluded. Compare to the usual "we're excited to announce."
- "Without a laptop, software, or network connection" is a constraint stated as a feature. In this domain it's the difference between usable and shelf-ware.
- The customer quote is specific and modest. "Before the shift supervisor finished his coffee" reads like a person. "Increased our OEE by 34%" reads like marketing wrote it.
Example 2: Bad Press Release (same product)
**Headline:**
"Northfield Automation Announces Revolutionary Next-Generation Industrial Control Platform"
**Introduction:**
Northfield Automation, a leader in industrial automation, today announced the NFA-500, an
innovative Industry 4.0-ready control platform leveraging cutting-edge technology to deliver
unprecedented operational efficiency and digital transformation for the modern smart factory.
**Solution:**
The NFA-500 features advanced modular architecture, IIoT connectivity, enhanced diagnostics, and
seamless integration with enterprise systems, empowering customers to optimize productivity and
unlock actionable insights across their operations.
**Quote:**
"The NFA-500 represents a paradigm shift in industrial control," said the CEO. "We're excited to
help our customers on their digital transformation journey."What breaks:
- No problem section at all. Working Backwards exists to force you to state the customer's problem before your solution. Skipping it means nobody checked whether the problem is real.
- "Revolutionary," "unprecedented," "paradigm shift" — three claims a controls engineer discounts on sight. In this audience, superlatives reduce credibility.
- "Enhanced diagnostics" hides the entire value. Enhanced how? The good version says: fault detail to the slot, readable at the panel, without a laptop.
- "Digital transformation journey" describes the vendor's ambition, not the customer's day.
- Nothing here is falsifiable, so writing it taught the team nothing. The whole point of drafting the release first is to discover you can't yet justify the headline — this version can't fail that test, because it never made a claim.
What writing this first surfaced
Drafting the good version before development changed the plan twice:
- The team had assumed a phone app for diagnostics. Writing "without a laptop, software, or network connection" made it obvious the primary display had to be on the unit — most panels have no connectivity and techs work with gloves on.
- The headline claim "hours to minutes" forced a measurement question nobody had asked: how much of our customers' downtime is diagnosis versus repair? Nobody knew, including the customers. That became the first discovery interview, and later became a selling point in its own right.
Both changes were free in March. Either would have been expensive to discover after tooling.