US industry is fighting to maintain its competitive edge in the global market place. Today markets fluctuate rapidly. Companies, to survive, have to be able to respond with quick-to-market, improved, high quality, cost efficient products. The way products are developed and brought to market can be improved and made more efficient through the proper incorporation of emerging technologies. The RRM project was established to leverage the expertise and resources of US private industries and federal agencies to develop, integrate, and deploy new technologies that meet critical needs for effective product realization. The RRM program addressed a needed change in the US Manufacturing infrastructure that will ensure US competitiveness in world market typified by mass customization. This project provided the effort needed to define, develop and establish a customizable infrastructure for rapid response product development design and manufacturing. A major project achievement was the development of a broad-based framework for automating and integrating the product and process design and manufacturing activities involved with machined parts. This was accomplished by coordinating and extending the application of feature-based product modeling, knowledge-based systems, integrated data management, and direct manufacturing technologies in a cooperative integrated computing environment. Key technological advancements include a product model that integrates product and process data in a consistent, minimally redundant manner, an advanced computer-aided engineering environment, knowledge-based software aids for design and process planning, and new production technologies to make products directly from design application software.