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58Maritime Reporter & Engineering News WorkboatsMaritime Reportercaught up with ChrisBollinger on a recent trip to the GulfCoast for the October 26, 2012, christen-ing of Bollinger?s latest newbuild; the first two of four tugboats in Crowley Maritime?s ocean class series, Ocean Wave and Ocean Wind. Directly on the heels of those two hulls are the next in series; Ocean Sun and Ocean Sky. The event, attended by more than 250 guests and employees from both the Crowley and Bollinger families, underscored the upbeat mood at the diverse, Gulf Coast shipbuilding and repair group. The most visible manifestations of the recent uptickof business at Bollinger include the U.S. Coast Guard Fast Response Cutter (FRC) program, the ongoing Crowley series newbuild effort and the recently an- nounced Hornbeck Marine retrofit program, a project that will upgrade and stretch six of its 200 class DP-1new generation OSVs into 240 class DP-2 OSVs. The Bollinger group, spanning 10 different U.S. Gulf Coast locations, clearly has its hands full, but Chris Bollinger, Executive Vice President, isn?t complaining. ?I haven?t been this excited about domestic shipbuilding in a long time.? Manufacturing Efficiency & Productivity Bollinger said that shipbuilding at the companies yards has evolved into ?manufacturing.? He explains, ?Bollinger has been building ships for over 65 years and we have continuously focused on improving our processes to increase efficiency and productivity. In our shipyard we define the manufacturing process through the many manufacturing workstations that allow us to progressively build our vessels. Each workstation has a very specific function where we attempt to standardize the work content at that workstation. By taking this ap- proach it allows us to capitalize on moving the work to our people, rather than moving people to the work.? He adds, ?We determined that once we established a stan- dard way of manufacturing a component of a vessel, re- gardless of type or size of the vessel, we could eliminate waste and reduce man-hours, which is the most critical aspect of the manufacturing process.? The manufacturing process at Bollinger is clearly an important ingredient to its success. Chris Bollinger con-cedes, however, that workforce development may well be the most important part of his business plan. ?It is true that the development of a skilled workforce is our most important focus today in order to meet the futuredemands,? he said, ?and at Bollinger we are always ex- ploring new opportunities for workforce development. We begin this process by visiting with middle schools, high schools and vocational schools to inform students and get them interested in a career with Bollinger Ship-yards.? The company?s recruitment efforts include participa- tion in the development of a standardized ship fitting boot camp, the National Maritime Education Council,administering apprentice programs for adults and forhigh school students that teach skills necessary ship-building skills, providing extensive paid on the job train- ing for skill development and working with Louisiana Economic Development?s Fast Start division as well as other government agencies to explore other opportuni- ties to attract and develop and retain a skilled workforce. Casting a Wide Net Bollinger Shipyards perhaps have one distinct advan- tage in the competitive Gulf Coast build and repair game. In terms of geographic presence alone, Bollinger may have no rival, giving the firm opportunities to serve a wide range of what Chris Bollinger characterizes as?opportunity jobs.? That, by itself, itself isn?t enough, and Bollinger knows it. ?Our 10 facilities service a di- verse customer base, ranging from the Coast Guard to inland operators to offshore operators in the Oil & Gas industry, as well as bluewater operators. Our 28 dry- docks alone give us the ability to accommodate cus- tomers in a variety of marine industries. Our facility utilization is directly affected by the activity in the in- dustry, and we do see an uptick in our utilization and BollingerMeans BusinessChris Bollinger sets the table for an exciting 2013 & beyond.By Joseph Keefe AboveCrowley Ocean Class DP2, Boats 3 & 4, Ocean Sun and Ocean Sky coming down the erection lane atBollinger Marine FabricatorsMR#11 (58-65):MR Template 11/6/2012 1:52 PM Page 58