Ship Building

Dakota Creek Industries, an Anacortes, Washington shipyard with 300 employees, manufactures tugs, fishing boats, barges, research vessels and oil recovery ships for fleets on the Pacific, Gulf and Atlantic Coasts. The shipyard faced productivity constraints using traditional methods to form complex hull rib frames. Three workers could produce only three sets of hull frames (six total port and starboard) per day, creating a significant bottleneck as modern ship designs demanded increasingly sophisticated geometries.

With funding from a 2017 U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) grant, Dakota Creek installed the Stierli-Bieger 2200 SE CNC horizontal ram bender — the first of its kind in the United States. The results transformed operations. "The Stierli will allow us to expand our daily production from around three sets of hull frames for three people to 12 sets using only one or two people," says Mike Nelson, Dakota Creek owner and vice president. This represents a 400% increase in output with 67% reduction in labor.

The CNC-controlled bender produces bulb profile hull stiffeners with precision and repeatability, enabling Dakota Creek to craft complex opposing port and starboard hull rib frames essential for modern vessels. Beyond productivity gains, the technology improved competitive positioning. "It will take us fewer manhours to do the same work. Where we once might have been priced out of a job, we will have a better shot at winning the bids," Nelson explains. The installation created immediate enthusiasm among operators, who discovered the machine's versatility under guidance from Stierli-Bieger's training specialist. Dakota Creek now pursues projects previously beyond their capabilities, strengthening U.S. shipyard competitiveness in the global marketplace.