In the growing shipbuilding industry along the Gulf Coast, not only is it difficult to find skilled workers to fill open positions, but the problem is also compounded because various shipyards have different definitions of what a welder or shipfitter does. To combat the issue, the Alabama Technology Network (ATN)--the state's Manufacturing Extension Partnership--led the charge to standardize the curriculum and job expectations for shipfitters and train workers to enter the profession on a fast track by offering Shipfitter Boot Camps. These intensive, 10-week training events, which prepare individuals to work as entry-level shipfitters within the maritime industry, are now being adapted for use by community colleges and other training organizations across the region, and graduates are now staffing local shipyards. The boot camps provide knowledge-based and performance-based skills training on such topics as blueprint reading, tack welding, burning and cutting, and shipfitting. They also address important soft skills like workplace ethics, effective communication and team building, and are helping to meet the workforce needs of ship manufacturers along the Gulf Coast. After Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast in late 2005, ATN led shipbuilding companies in the region to form the Gulf State Shipbuilders Consortium (GSSC) to apply for grants that would help rebuild the local maritime industry. ATN and GSSC partnered to develop the curriculum and stage a boot camp to vet the curriculum and improve it before final release. While the curriculum would be built as a series of modules so that any module could stand on its own, the organizations wanted to validate and vet the entire curriculum, and a boot camp model seemed ideal. This article describes how ATN and GSSC not only developed a successful shipfitter boot camp program, but also standardized it, making it ready for use by other training organizations in the industry.