You’ve set aside Sunday afternoon to bake some cookies, but you discover you have run out of eggs. Your partner in marital bliss has gone out and taken the car.

Today I’m looking at design from a cybernetics viewpoint. My inspirations come from cybernetics and design theorists Ross Ashby, Stafford Beer, Klaus Krippendorff, Paul Pangaro, and Ranulph Glanville.

An email pops up on your screen. It’s a client sharing a project update. A Slack message appears. It’s your boss asking a question. A text alert beeps. A colleague wants to know if you will be attending a meeting.

Throughout our 30-year company history, we have witnessed over and over how clearly communicated systems, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and policies can transform business results.

I have been immersed in the lean world for more than a quarter century.

The mean time between failures (MTBF) calculation is widely used to evaluate the reliability of parts and equipment. In the industry it is usually defined as one of the key performance indicators.

How do we get smart? I was first asked this question while sitting in on a call with a small manufacturer who supplied parts for automotive manufacturers. With all the buzz around “smart manufacturing,” this manufacturer wanted to join the movement.

When it comes to making medical devices, quality is key. That’s a concept that nearly every medical device professional agrees with, but what does it mean? Why is quality so important, and how should it be pursued?

According to a recent LNS Research survey, 37 percent of quality leaders cite an inability to measure quality metrics as their No.

The idea of doing the little things consistently over time is a powerful one that we often overlook in our hurry to show a spectacular result this week. We don’t get results from the big action we are taking today.