Brave new world: fast-track manufacturing techniques are shaking up how products are being...

As the "grandson" of the U.S. Army's Humvee high-mobility vehicle, the Hummer H2 is better known for its muscle and maneuverability than for its velocity. But manufacturer AM General broke a speed barrier of a different sort when it constructed its H2 assembly plant in Mishawaka, IN. Just 18 months after the concept car drawings were approved, two years after AM General sold General Motors the Hummer brand name, the first H2s rolled off the line. By industry standards, that's warp speed.

"It's unheard of. It just doesn't happen," says Rick Smith, vice president of oper