SEPTEMBER 2021 ISSUE NUMBER 03
The Wave
News and updates for Team BlueCrest
In this issue: 04 S ervice Spotlight New classes and EvoluJet lead programs for CSRs 06 Introducing ESG BlueCrest’s Environmental, Social, and Governance initiative. 12 Thought Leadership How some Mailers are Poised to Succeed During and After the Pandemic.
Team,
Dennis LeStrange President & CEO, BlueCrest
During our September All-Employee meeting, I had the pleasure of reviewing our progress for the year with you. If you were not able to attend the meeting, a recording is available on the BlueCrest Net. As we covered in the meeting, we saw that Q2 was much better than Q1, and we’ve had a good start to Q3. BCC continues to perform well as new management takes shape. Additionally, we’ve seen continued positive cash performance, great written business, a record-setting backlog, and a successful completion of our ISO 9001 Audit. Considering all these accomplishments, I believe we are well-poised for a strong finish to 2021. Great work! Next, I’d like to cover an exciting new initiative you are going to be seeing much more of in the coming months. You’ll remember last year we unveiled the beginnings of our Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) program. Below, I’d like to share BlueCrest’s commitment to ESG: While working to exceed our customer’s expectations in everything we do, we will manage and drive the Company to be environmentally conscious, socially responsible, and governed in a way that fosters trust across all business relationships. Our purpose is to make lives better for our employees, customers, and our communities. For BlueCrest, the COVID-19 pandemic focused our attention and resources on the health, safety and well-being of our employees, supply chains and communities. We looked at how we can make meaningful progress across many areas of our business, including our ESG initiative. We believe we can make a positive impact on the world, our customers, and each other, by thoughtfully and creatively building upon environmental, social, and governance focus areas. It’s easy to see how our I CARE behaviors closely align with the purpose behind our commitment to ESG. Our company culture will be lived out by our actions, and each of us will be able to contribute to this initiative in a variety of ways, which we will detail in future opportunities and reports. We’ll explore ways to offset carbon emissions, reduce waste, foster diversity and inclusion, take care of our communities, and—perhaps—even begin planting our own BlueCrest forest! If you have any ideas at all you’d like to share regarding ESG, please visit the new ESG page on the intranet. You can read more about this initiative on page 6 of this newsletter. In the coming months, you’ll see more details around our progress with ESG. The key to our success is living out our I CARE behaviors in all that we say and do, whether at work or in our communities. By being innovative, collaborative, accountable, resourceful, and enthusiastic—each and every one of us can make a difference. As always, thank you for your passion and commitment to our company. Our success is a result of the contributions you make each day. Onward!
Dennis P. LeStrange, President & CEO, BlueCrest
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The Wave | September 2021
Events Calendar of Activities
Customer Events Parcel+Post Expo
October 12-14, Austria This is the premier, global exhibition of future technologies, solutions and services for the parcel delivery, e-commerce logistics and postal industries. www.parcelandpostexpo.com
Modex March 28-31, Atlanta This 3-day conference and exhibition is hosted by the leading trade body for document management professionals in Germany. https://www.modexshow.com/
Internal Events All-Employee Meeting September 9, 9:00 AM ET - Recording Available November 17, 9:00 AM ET BlueCrest in the Market July 21, 11:00 AM ET - Recording Available
Rescheduled - Innovation Summit
October 13, 11:00 AM ET
We are excited to welcome clients to our very own Innovation Summit at BlueCrest World Headquarters! Please invite our clients to see demos of our industryleading technology, learn about our latest innovations and discuss their business needs with our solutions experts and engineers. https://bluecrestsummit.com/
Ask the Experts What’s New at BlueCrest
April 27, 2022 Danbury, CT
October 8, 12:00 PM ET
Output Control Product Launch October 22, 12:00 PM ET
KPI DASHBOARD Key Performance Indicators – Are you Paying Attention? Since introducing our Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) earlier this year, we have also updated all employees on our progress during our September All-Employee Meeting. We are in the process of identifying our KPIs for next year and look forward to sharing with everyone at an upcoming All-Employee Meeting.
We have also made it easy for you to check on our KPI performance anytime by posting them to the intranet. Please do take the time to review them and if you have any questions reach out to me directly at carl.amacker@bluecrestinc.com. I would be pleased to receive your comments and input. Read more
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Service Spotlight
Commercial Wins
HP Install at iColor and Maple Press BlueCrest has entered into a service partner agreement where we will provide installation and upgrade services to Hewlett Packard on the Intellijet line of printers. The print engineering team successfully completed the first live event, a T240 to T250 upgrade at iCOLOR in Los Angeles, CA. Jim Bauman, Pat Kephart, Greg Koert, Jim Clattenburg and Don Chapman were on the upgrade team with the installation lasting one full week from start to finish. Installation in York, Pennsylvania of an Intellijet T260 which is a mono press has also been completed. Initially, this installation will be roll to roll with a return visit to assist integrating a Magnum Book Maker and sheeter. Don Chapman, Pat Kephart, Kevin Kavanaugh, Greg Koert and Henry Myers will support this effort. This is a great opportunity for BlueCrest to enhance service revenue and build technical expertise in a marketplace where we normally do not participate. Installs are scheduled until the end of the year.
New Hire – Diagnostics and troubleshooting with MSE Tom Sullivan, Instructor We’re excited to offer the New Hire MSE Diagnostics and Troubleshooting Course! This is a 2-week class where new hires will review all software, diagnostic and troubleshooting aspects of the MSE system. Additionally, new hires will also study Operator Setup and Remove and Replace exercises. Service Technicians: Brian Brissette, Eric Alvey, Phillip Lewis and Mike Rogel
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The Wave | September 2021
Vantage Sorter Training Idella Johnson, Instructor The Vantage training class is a seven-day course that provide technical training to Customer Service Reps, where they will learn how to operate and service the Vantage sorter. The Vantage system functions, specifications, and capabilities include a theory of operations on all related modules including the OCR Camera, Selective Opener and VideoJet printer. Students will learn Power distribution, computers interfacing, and communication signal flow. The class also includes a troubleshooting section which include a break-fix component where students are taught how to identify problem and fix them.
2,520 training hours complete! Learning and Development has hit the ground running! Year to date, we have 169 students that have requested training, 148 students have scheduled/completed training which leaves only 21 people that need to be scheduled. That’s an estimated total of 2,520 training hours since January 2021. Not only are we fulfilling the BlueCrest requested training, but we are also coordinating client requested training for revenue. YTD we have about 1,000 hours of completed training. This training is done in the field at client locations. New classes are being prepared, the first enhanced PPM with composure class was scheduled for the end of June. A new advanced HPI with high-speed paper flow and paper characteristics class is now available as well. Gary Owens also coordinated a Technical Leadership course, which began the last week of August. Thank you to Gary Owens for putting these classes together along with special thanks to the learning and development team for the hard work and dedication. The team includes Carlos Olmos, Doug Box, Tom Sullivan, Allison Zito, Lana Underwood, Kimberley Volkema, and the delivery team SME’s. Classes are constantly being added to our schedule, so if you are interested in attending a class, please reach out to your manager or Gary Owens.
Service Technicians: Jeff Durant, Jacob Pye, Michael Cahill, Scott Woerner, Steve Harding and Patrick Frizzelle
Play Ball and Swing for the money! CSRs - Get Ca$h for EvoluJet Leads!
$50 for every FIVE site assessment leads! A site assessment is info you supply about the customer’s current print system and usage. It’s entered in the Sales Lead area of D365. Questions must be answered completely and accurately. $100 for any qualified lead resulting from a site assessment! An assessment becomes a lead when a BC salesperson validates there is a potential sales opportunity. $500 for any product sale resulting from a lead! Get in the Game! • Collect customer info and submit a EvoluJet site assessment lead in D365 (phone or PC). Click here for steps on how. • Site assessment leads are automatically sent to Service and Marketing for tracking and hand-off to Sales. • Leads are compiled and reviewed monthly – and any payouts are distributed in the following month.
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Environmental, Social & Governance NEW A BlueCrest, we strive to build and execute innovative, best-in-class ESG strategies and programs that resonate with stakeholders and employees. We have a long way to go, but we’re excited to go on this journey together.
Environmental We strive to preserve our natural world. We are mindful stewards of our resources, we care about our planet and our communities, and we thoughtfully work to help our environment flourish.
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Social We carefully consider other humans and our interdependencies. We care about customer success, data security, gender and diversity inclusion, mental health, and community relations.
Governance We define processes that ethically govern our business - from compliance training to best hiring practices, we hold ourselves accountable and responsible to do the right thing.
The Wave | September 2021
Our purpose is to make lives better for our employees, customers, and our communities. Visit the ESG Intranet Page!
ESG Highlights Switch to eco-friendly kitchen and office supplies by Sept 2021.
By 2022, BlueCrest to join Tree-Nation. As a business involved with paper waste, each tree BlueCrest sponsors will help offset company carbon emissions. Our goal is to have a company forest!
Environmental Health and Safety policies added to intranet.
Logistics providers selected to reduce environmental impact.
ISO 9001 certification will help BlueCrest witness an increase in compliance, a decrease in costs, shorter delivery time, improvement in quality, and enhanced relationships with suppliers and customers.
Purchase only Fair trade coffee by end of 2021. Fair trade coffee combats poverty, fights child labor, stands up for workers’ rights, promotes gender equality, protects the environment and creates more resilient communities.
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Product Updates Virtual Demos Here to Stay!
Clients who are not able to travel to Danbury to see an in-person demonstration are taking advantage of our Virtual Demo capability.
Complete Virtual Demo Request Form
These personalized, interactive, demonstrations allow clients to get up close with the equipment, ask questions, and receive a recording to share with extended team members. As a next step, we are preparing demo recordings of our key solution that can be available for sales on-demand. Using product demonstration as part of the sales process can help us better engage clients, accelerate pipeline, and show our technology virtually.
If you have any questions, Email us here.
Request a Virtual Demo Here 8
The Wave | September 2021
Organizational Announcements
Ask the Experts Ask the Experts is a regular online webinar and Q&A where BlueCrest gurus share the latest news and information on our products and services.
As our company continues to evolve and grow, so do our team members. Please take a moment to read these recent organizational announcements. > Information Technology August 11, 2021
Check out the most recent Ask the Expert sessions below and keep yourself informed. Unpacking the USPS 10-Year Plan
Download Deck
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Streamweaver Displacement Program
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BlueShirt Excellence
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BlueCrest in the News
Media Placement BlueCrest Featured in PPTI!
FUNKE Post optimizes automatic letter sorting at Thuringia location - increasing efficiency and reducing costs. FUNKE Post offers its customers services covering all aspects of mail and parcel delivery, with hybrid offerings
Acceleration automation E-commerce growth continues to escalate. The pandemic saw parcel volumes spiral at an unprecedented rate and global sales are global sales are estimated to approach the US$5tn mark in 2021. But what of the other mail items that make up daily postal volumes? Though the ratio of letters and flats to e-commerce parcels has declined, the fact remains that there is still so much mail out there. And there is a shortage of available labor to process this volume. The lack of labor and the rate of employee turnover related to the processing of letter and flat mail is a major challenge. It is also a clear opportunity for postal operators to reassess processes and identify required next steps to position better for a complex and changing environment.
Read more
In such a climate, automation and operational efficiency are key. The technology exists to enable operators to streamline workflows, consolidate labor, reduce facility footprints and increase processing speed. For example, a typical organization might be operating with two legacy sortation systems running at 22,000 items per hour, requiring two or more operators. Today, a high-speed sortation system such as the BlueCrest Vantage can run at twice that speed, effectively delivering a one-for-two replacement. Read more about how BlueCrest technology is driving operational efficiencies and helping organizations master today’s market challenges.
Read more
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The Wave | September 2021
BlueCrest in the News
Case studies
Case study: Latvia Post
Case study: Croatian Post Postal automation positions Croatian Post to continue delivering next day service amidst double digit growth Making the complex simple Latvia Post invests $4.75m in new processing software and sorting equipment to handle growing cross border e-commerce packets. In common with posts across the globe, Latvia Post has seen a sharp increase in small, “complex” cross-border mail items from across Asia. These items are referred to as “complex” because address information can be badly printed, bar codes have little or no information behind them, and packages are small and difficult to handle.
Croatian Post was established in 1999 as a result of the separation of HPT-Hrvatska pošta i telekomunikacije (HPT Croatian Post and Telecommunications) into two separate stock companies. The state-owned company competes in a liberalized market with international rivals such as DHL, UPS and DPD. Croatian Post dominates the letter business with around 98% of the market and has approximately 20% share of the parcel delivery sector. To continue to compete, it needed to be equipped with the latest technology.
Latvia Post is positioning itself to become a market leader through provision of world-class postal services across the Baltic states and Europe. The company seeks to achieve this business growth and tackle market challenges.
Read more
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Thought Leadership Article by Carl Amacker | September 2021
How Some Mailers are Poised to Succeed Through and After the Pandemic
Carl Amacker Chief Marketing Officer
By Carl Amacker The global pandemic continues to force many companies to rethink their strategies so they can weather the unprecedented uncertainty of a rapidly changing world. With terms like “new normal”, many of us are questioning whether things will ever go back to the way they were, or if our way of doing business is changed forever. No one really knows. In reality, the old way of doing business before the pandemic is not likely going to be acceptable in the future. So, what are mailers to do? In the short-term, mailers need to figure out how to navigate this drastically unpredictable world – where daily changes in safety protocols and lockdowns impact workflows, availability of labor, logistics, shipping, and more. Not to mention the increase in costs these uncertain times have brought on. The good news is that we have more than a year of experience now under our belt. What we did learn during that time is that challenges brought on by the pandemic are not insurmountable. In the mailing industry specifically, we’ve seen many companies not only overcome the challenges of COVID-19, but many of them seized opportunities that positioned them for success well into the future—whatever that future may hold. So what are some key lessons learned over the last year or more?
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Innovation is key. Mailers who innovated and focused on operational excellence have thrived and will continue to thrive. By tweaking processes, mailers have been able to increase efficiencies and improve workflow, even under the strictest of safety measures like social distancing. Mailers needed to deeply consider their work cells and optimize them for maximum efficiency and safety—a challenge never presented before in the modern era. We saw that mailers best maximized their assets by prioritizing work based on data. By innovating processes or investing in more efficient technology, mailers improved efficiencies and avoided most of the negative impacts of social distanced labor. We do not know how long workforces will be required to operate under COVID-19 protocols, but when you add in the current severe labor shortage, the time is now to invest in automation and more efficient technologies.
The Wave | September 2021
“We do not know how long workforces will be required to operate under COVID-19 protocols, but when you add in the current severe labor shortage, the time is now to invest in automation and more efficient technologies.” Carl Amacker, CMO
Customer Complexity. Flexible hardware. Many mailers had to face the tough questions such as: do I have the luxury to be only a transactional or direct mailer? We see that many mailers have decided the answer to this question is no. That luxury is—in many cases—no longer an option. Customers’ demands are changing. Volumes are shifting. Many operations have therefore looked at ways to service all customers with varying levels of volume and sophistication. To do this, you need to have hardware on-site that can flexibly adjust to your mission. In addition to higher-volume throughput, having flexible, modular solutions make it easier to redesign workflows with the latest and greatest features, such as in-line printing, cardattaching capability, and other features that a diverse mailer will need to nimbly step into this new world. Additional capabilities mailers should consider as they redesign their processes are: •Address quality – Address cleansing will play a key role in measuring a mailer’s mail piece effectiveness and will reduce UAA. •Data services – By leveraging the next level of data, mailers can ensure their mail is going to not just the correct address, but the correct person. •Presort Discounts – This is critical to maximizing the discounts offered by the USPS. Otherwise, mailers risk losing mail volumes. •Tracking – Due to the changes in price and SLAs, being able to track each piece of mail throughout the entire mail stream is critical to mailers.
•Workflow automation – Old workflows were built around old SLAs and pricing; the new changes are significant enough for all mailers and service providers to re-evaluate their processes. •Labor and Productivity – Labor shortages in operations (across all industries) is a prominent reason for mailers to focus on the automation of tasks, including system setup, process monitoring, and Internet of Things (IoT) analytics.
The return of mail volumes is temporary. Mailers should be prepared to onboard new jobs and accommodate a surge of work in a highly competitive space. We have seen it in other industries, and it should be no different in the mailing space. The work must go on. While more volume might represent a challenge for some mailers, those mailers who have adequately prepared and innovated will be ready to seize it as an opportunity. With the right technology footprint, you can ramp up the productivity of your organization with less labor required, and now is the time to consider taking action.
Don’t wait. Very few of us could have imagined we would still be working through a global pandemic in the fall of 2021. Yet here we are—and with continuing uncertainty around lockdowns and COVID variants, there is no telling if we will come out of this cycle any time soon. That is why it is important for mailers to consider innovation, flexible hardware, and automation today. Waiting until tomorrow might be too late.
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MISSION To continuously improve the integrity, efficiency, productivity and tracking of every letter and parcel processed by our customers. While working to exceed our customers’ expectations in everything we do, we will manage and drive BlueCrest to be environmentally conscious, socially responsible, and governed in a way that fosters trust across all business relationships.
VISION
To be the leading provider of secure, high-volume postal/ecommerce solutions.
BLUECREST BEHAVIORS A sense of responsibility is at the heart of how we approach every customer, every idea, every product, every employee, and every living thing we touch. Thoughtfulness is the foundation of all that follows:
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The Wave | September 2021
I I N N OVAT I V E
C A
COLLABORATIVE
AC C O U NTA B L E
R
RESOURCEFUL
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E NT H U S I A S T I C
I N N OVAT I V E Our ability to provide solutions is the core of innovation, something that is essential to our culture and our value proposition with clients. Being innovative is a competitive advantage as we think outside of the box to improve processes, methodologies and solutions. Innovation is required in all roles. C O L L A B O R AT I V E In order to drive efficiency, productivity, customer satisfaction and achieve our business objectives, we must collaborate in everything that we do. Reliance on each other and trust are critical to the overall success of BlueCrest.
AC C O U NTA B L E We must be accountable to ourselves and to each other. We take responsibility seriously and understand the impact it has on the entire organization. Accountability is closely linked to being collaborative. RESOURCEFUL We are agile, adaptable and resourceful. We always embrace change and seek new and different ways to achieve success. We respond with creativity to changes in the world and our business. E NT H U S I A S T I C We are passionate, positive, energized, optimistic, and committed to BlueCrest customers and each other. We love both success and learning. Our enthusiasm is infectious.
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Engagement Team Member Milestones We are BlueCrest!
Every quarter, we like to celebrate the many team members who have reached milestone achievements of 5, 10, 15, 20 years—and beyond! Thank you to each one of you for all that you to do make BlueCrest great.
Third Quarter, 2021 35 years
20 years
10 years
James Word
La’Manza Davis
Benjamin Cola
George Menzies
Robert Moore
Gregory Koert
Michael Farrell
Xavier Padros
James Clattenburg
Philip Sheridan
David Riggs
Roger Castro Michael Marucci
30 years Wilfred Rodgers
25 years
15 years
5 years
William Oatman
Thomas Tanaka
Paul Grasseler
Emilios Katsouris
Timothy Turner
Charles Hrynkiw
Glenn Salinas
David Glowny
Jennifer Larkin
Phillip Davis
David Holland
Devin Wright
Jose Lokuan
Mark Doane
Austin Chadwell
Hollie Ericson
Lyndon Morris
Jeffrey Yeager
Kent Shaw 16
The Wave | July 2021
We want to feature your story in the next issue of The WAVE Please send your ideas and stories to: estinc.com ns@bluecr
BlueCrestCommunicatio
Email Etiquette an article by Donald Hobbs Does BlueCrest have an email pollution problem? Poorly created email messages increase the chance that an important message will be missed. Low quality communication means wasted time and energy we can’t get back. By improving our email practices, we can communicate more effectively on a daily basis. Consider the following tips and tricks to improve your email communication.
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For more information visit us online: bluecrestinc.com
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