Blount/Barker ShipBuilding, Warren, R.I. has elected Jacob A. Stevens III as its
new senior vice president. A well-known shipbuilder, whose career highlights include the construction of six 92 ft. (28 m), 4,000 hp Marci-Class Z
drive tug boats in under 20 months for Moran Towing, Stevens will be responsible for all shipyard operations including engineering, design, labor, purchasing, scheduling and working with outside contractors.
Prior to joining Blount/Barker, Stevens was production and project supervisor at
Washburn & Doughty Associates. While there, Stevens implemented an in-house CAD technology to facilitate quick design adjustments and e-mail communication with subcontractors. Instead of building one Marci-Class tug at a time for Moran, he developed a modular approach to production, used subcontractors for bulkier vessel prices, and created more efficient work routines to enable workers to duplicate processes multiple times.