I am a 1978 Electrical Engineering graduate of Michigan Technological University and I have over thirty years of manufacturing systems experience. During my career, I have worked for many manufacturing systems design departments. I have system design and deployment experience with automotive, railroad, food processing, and light manufacturing environments.I do not pretend to be a technical systems specialist. I have seen many manufacturing engineering and information system organizations, staff design teams with only technical people, or with people who are familiar with their current system designs. I believe the old adage, "if you do what you’ve always done, don't be surprised when you get what you've always got". I understand the importance of having a technical and experienced knowledge base, but I believe manufacturing system design teams must include someone who understands how to control the behavior of machines, processes, and systems.There have been numerous books and articles written on the topic of Manufacturing Execution Systems, but emphasis always seems to describe what these systems can, or should, do. Indeed, what MES systems promise should drive the justification for their development and implementation. Making good on these promises is another story. This explains why MES books and articles have a focus on managing automation or providing some nebulous form of supervisory control. To break this paradigm, I can focus your organization on enabling MES designs to fulfill their promises by arming application designers with the means to direct automated manufacturing processes.