BLUECREST UK NEWS

by David Jefferies

WOW: TWO MORE INSERTING RECORDS AT COMMUNISIS!

We have previously reported world class mail inserting production records at Communisis sites in Leeds and Liverpool. Now, two teams in the Leeds site have blown away previous production benchmarks with over half a million envelopes inserted on the Epic machine in a 24-hour period. The Leeds site has 4 flagship Epic machines of which 3 have now achieved individual records.

The machines (one of which is nicknamed ‘The Beast’ due to its unique, customized dual input configuration) delivered flawless enclosing of a roll-fed government application into DL sized envelopes. The recordbreaking efforts began in April when Production Manager, Glen Place was closely monitoring the data as part of his daily routine. Whilst looking from every angle to optimize performance, he saw the opportunity to beat existing mail enclosing records. With no special preparation of materials and with the usual operators allocated, he decided, together with the team, to have a go at breaking all previous production records.

After the first shift they were on target, after the second shift they were just ahead, and by the time the watch stopped at 24 hours of production, a new record had been set – 505,379 on Epic 4 (‘The Beast’).

This tremendous performance was then challenged with a second attempt to beat the previous record and was repeated on Epic 3 in May, with 546,783 envelopes being filled and processed, again in 24 hours across three shifts. Full details of both production records are below.

Operations Director, Maggie Redmond commented,

“These production records are witness to our wellmaintained equipment and motivated, well-trained operators. Together with an Outcome Based Service contract from BlueCrest, their engineers as part of our team and our amazing Epic inserters, we continue to deliver impressive results. Congratulations and thanks to all involved. This is a true demonstration of the work ethic, flexibility, and dedication of the team to achieve excellence.”

THE TEAMS THAT DID IT – CONGRATULATIONS!

RECORD 1:

Mail packs produced: 505,379 (DL)

Date: 13th – 14th April 2023, Time: 13:30pm – 13:30pm

Machine: Epic 4 “The Beast”

Early shift team: (Team Leader) – Scott Radcliffe, (Operator) – Kevin Noble, (Floor Operative) – Glen Gales | Late shift team: (Team Leader) – Steve Askew, (Operator) – Paul Brannan, (Floor Operative) – Gary Schlesinger | Night shift team: (Team Leader) – Liam Gales, (Operator) – Roy Halliday, (Floor Operative) – Colin Gales

RECORD 2:

Mail packs produced: 546,783 (DL)

Date: 17th – 18th May 2023, Time: 19:00pm – 19:00pm

Machine: Epic 3

Early shift team: (Team Leader) – Ryan McDonagh, (Operator) – Liam Gales, (Floor Operative) – Colin Gales | Late shift team: (Team Leader) – Ryan McDonagh & Scott Radcliffe, (Operator) – Lee Waite, (Floor Operative) –Glen Gales | Night shift team: (Team Leader) – Scott Radcliffe, (Operator) – Nikki Askin, (Floor Operative) – Gary Schlesinger

BlueCrest on-site service support team: Luke Kenyon, John Kendrick, Andy Tanner, Tony Diplock, Dave Ackerley, Antony Roscamp.

Meeting Nick Tonna

Give us a little history of your background.

I have been in trade compliance for over twenty years where I have run global trade compliance teams providing coverage for supply chain security programs and hazmat safety for all modes of transport. I ran the BlueCrest Brexit project in Europe identifying the risks and cost implications this brought to the European business and minimized the impact on our customers. I have a strong knowledge of governmental requirements and audits. I also provide security scanning to identify any potential threats to our business with embargoes and denied parties.

What is your role here at BlueCrest?

I am Global Trade Compliance Manager. I am currently working to maintain our compliance program and roll out global training so all BlueCrest employees gain some understanding of the impact they have on keeping our company within the legal boundaries of all international legislation whenever we are shipping goods internationally or even when crossing EU borders. I am also setting up specific functional training and a trade compliance committee to avoid and flag any potential trade breaches across all out geographies.

What opportunities do you see for BlueCrest?

From my standpoint, I see a so many opportunities. I see opportunities for business units to come together and share knowledge and experiences to align teams and get BlueCrest running more efficiently using our current resources to the maximum. This will drive a culture of excellence which will deliver the highest level of service to our customers and would create a more cost-effective business model. We need to sell ourselves to our internal customers and make everyone aware of the talent we already possess.

How would you describe the relationships you've built at BlueCrest?

In my role I cover imports and exports across all of our sites so I get to interact with people in the different geographies. This can be a challenge, but it's also very rewarding knowing you can help the company globally. Externally, I get to interact with many different carriers and customs agents. Building good relationships and gaining trusts is vital to having fewer snag points and delays to our goods being delivered.

Tell us a fun fact about yourself!

I'm an avid watch collector, but I very rarely actually wear one.

USING OUR CURRENT RESOURCES TO THE MAXIMUM. THIS WILL DRIVE A CULTURE OF EXCELLENCE WHICH WILL DELIVER THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF SERVICE TO OUR CUSTOMERS AND WOULD CREATE A MORE COSTEFFECTIVE BUSINESS MODEL. WE NEED TO SELL OURSELVES