IN ZERO SPACE: MOVING BEYOND ORGANIZATIONAL LIMITS, Frank Lekanne Deprez and Rene Tissen write, "The speed of innovation, shortened product cycles, complexity of offerings required by an increasingly demanding consumer--all mean that organizations must be 'all brains and no body.' Nonbrain weight should be kept to an absolute minimum, all such processes outsourced or eliminated entirely. It's the all-brain processes that add value to a company." Which came to mind when I learned about the development of the HUMMER H2. This is a vehicle that was created faster than any GM product-16 months, in all-and brought to bear the resources of General Motors, AM General Corp. (Mishawaka, IN), and EDAG Engineering Design (in the U.S. in Madison Heights, MI). This is a product that GM is having manufactured by a U.S. company--and GM president Gary Cowger said that so far as he can recall, there hasn't been a product built for GM like this for at least 50 years. This is a vehicle that was not only created by a team of engi neers, but which is being manufactured by a group of people, as well. AM General CEO Jim Armour said that once he knew all of the names of the people who worked at AM General's manufacturing plant-now plants. But as the company has grown, he can't keep track of all of the names. He noted that on more than one occasion while walking the floor recently, he's asked people for their names while engaging them in conversation. He's discovered that they're actually GM employees, not AM General. "You can't tell the difference' he recalled. There are no visible boundaries, in a sense.

This was a fast program. A program that consumers have indicated meets the requirement of the new GM mantra: "Gotta-have vehicles." A program that has used the brainpower of a variety of firms in a seamless manner. A program that is calling upon the manufacturing expertise of AM General--which has been building the original High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) since 1985. and the commercial HUMMER since 1992-an expertise that is supplemented by the implementation of the General Motors Global Manufacturing System (GMS)--the first time a company outside GM has implemented it. This is a program that has resulted in a vehicle that Cowger proudly proclaimed, "Exceeded my expectations."