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NTSC Awarded SEA Stage One Certification

National Technical Systems Awarded SEA Stage One Certification for Its Fullerton, CA and Boxborough, MA Laboratories

First Engineering Services Organization to Be Certified; SEA Honors NTS for Leadership


CALABASAS, Calif., Nov. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- National Technical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTSC) ("NTS"), a leading provider of testing and engineering services, announced today that the Supplier Excellence Alliance (SEA) has awarded SEA Stage One Certification to NTS laboratories in Fullerton, CA and Boxborough, MA.

SEA also named NTS and NTS CEO William C. McGinnis as the recipients of two awards for leadership at its recent Annual Supplier Excellence Alliance "SEA" Awards Conference. McGinnis was awarded the 2011 Richard Hall Award for Leadership Excellence for leaders in the Aerospace and Defense industry who have inspired and motivated their organization and have provided effective company and industry leadership. NTS received the Stephen E. Barton Leadership & Culture Award for the Company's commitment to development of excellence in leadership processes.

SEA is an eight-year-old aerospace and defense non-profit alliance dedicated to improving global supply chain performance and providing a platform for collaboration to produce breakthrough supply chain solutions. To become SEA certified, a supplier company must satisfactorily meet criteria in four critical areas: Leadership and Culture, Workforce Development, Operational Excellence, and Business Results.

SEA partners and alliances include The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), The National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), Vistage International, The International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG), A|D|S, the UK's AeroSpace, Defence and Security Trade Organization and The California Space Authority. Virtually all major prime and tier-one contractors who founded SEA helped to develop the SEA Certification as the preferred approach to continuous improvement and process management.

"While the SEA Certification is voluntary, it distinguishes the highest performing supplier companies and provides our customers with a reliable way to identify low-risk, high-performing suppliers," said Michael G. Beason, Founder, Chairman and CEO for SEA. "We are pleased that NTS, one of the nation's leading testing and engineering services companies, agreed to undergo the rigorous certification program, which resulted in them becoming the first engineering services organization to receive SEA certification."

SEA was founded by prime and tier-one companies and is led by a group of sub-tier suppliers. SEA customers enjoy increasing performance and supply chain transparency. SEA provides a lean management system and a voluntary supplier certification program for supplier visibility, performance improvement and collaboration.

"Our commitment to becoming SEA certified started almost three years ago at NTS and we are very proud of the commitment to this effort by our internal teams all across the country as we worked to improve business and operational processes, all of which were part of the certification of Boxborough and Fullerton," said William C. McGinnis, CEO of NTS. "During the certification audit, our teams were referenced as best in class examples of how processes should be documented and taught. As the first independent test lab to become SEA certified, we believe this puts us way ahead of our competitors and in line to win more supply chain contracts, particularly in the aerospace market."

To learn more, visit the SEA website at http://www.seaonline.org

About National Technical Systems

National Technical Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of testing and engineering services to the aerospace, defense, telecommunications, automotive and high technology markets. Through a world-wide network of resources, NTS provides full product life-cycle support, offering world class design engineering, compliance, testing, certification, quality registration and program management. For additional information about NTS, visit the Company's website at www.nts.com or call 800-270-2516.