August 2026 ISSUE NUMBER 21
The Wave News and Updates for BlueCrest In this issue: 02 L etter from Kim Lighthouse 2030 and Building What Comes Next 04 NPS Survey Score 2026 Recap of our Net Promoter Score and What it Means 07 People Team Update Highlighting manager training and new Working at Blue Video 09 BlueCrest Social Media Check out our latest social highlights
Danbury HQ
A MESSAGE FROM OUR CEO
Lighthouse 2030 Building What Comes Next On August 21, we held our latest “Catch-up with Kim,” and I kicked things off with an update on Lighthouse 2030. At the heart of the plan is a simple idea: we keep performing at the high standard that made BlueCrest a market leader, while building the business we need for the future. Our growth initiatives, OEM services, software, and e-commerce, along with our realignment work across go-to-market, engineering, EMEA, IT, and finance, are all moving us in that direction. As we head toward 2027, these initiatives will become less about projects and more about how we work every day: resetting what we do, reinventing how we operate, and reinvesting in a business built to last. OEM services continue to be a great example of where we are gaining momentum. We have added another team member to support Genta Itoh as that business grows, and the opportunity is clear. Across the industry, outsourcing is quickly becoming the norm, with 90% of manufacturers outsourcing some or all their field service work and 94% expecting demand to keep rising. Customers want immediate availability, fast response, and people they can trust. That is exactly where our BlueShirt Excellence technicians shine. We generated $3.4 million in OEM service revenue in 2025 and are on track to exceed $5 million this year. We are already seeing the impact. HP relies on us for PageWide Press installations, and we are now talking with them about maintenance and
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repair. Intralox has grown with us at 167% three-year CAGR in USPS sorter commissioning, and Amazon counts on our team for parcel conveyor support, where we have achieved 100% SLA compliance. These wins matter because they prove what our teams can do. Next, we are expanding into adjacent markets like robotics and intralogistics, where our reputation for reliable, high-availability service gives us a strong right to win. In this month’s “Catch-up with Kim”, e-commerce was in the spotlight. Craig Ross, who joined us this year to lead the effort, gave us a look at where we are headed. Today’s store runs on a limited Microsoft platform that even our own team finds difficult to use. The new Shopify platform gives us a true storefront with cleaner product pages, bundles and subscriptions, accountholder volume pricing, bulk ordering by spreadsheet, and the analytics we need to make smarter decisions. Craig also showed how Shopify’s AI tool built a feature for us in about ten minutes, work that not long ago would have required a developer and a month of waiting. A few customers will begin placing orders on the new platform by the end of September, with about half of our customer base expected to use it by year-end. From there, we will build on marketing automation, cross-selling, and eventually agentic commerce, allowing our machines to reorder their own parts.
Kim Andersen President & CEO, BlueCrest
business elsewhere during COVID. Those conversations have been encouraging. With a better customer experience, we believe $15-$20 million in business could return to BlueCrest. My goal is to grow our current $40 million portal business by at least 10% over the next three to four years. We will do that thoughtfully and with discipline. As I shared with the team, we need to crawl before we walk, and walk before we run, ensuring each step earns customer confidence and creates lasting value. The strategy is exciting, but the real difference-maker is our people. Lighthouse 2030 gives us direction, and each of us helps bring it to life through the decisions we make, the way we collaborate, and the ownership we take each day. Thank you for showing up for our customers, for each other, and for the future we are building together
Kim Anderson President & CEO
I have also spent much of the past year meeting customers face-to-face, including many who moved their parts
The Wave | August 2026
External Events
Internal Events All-Employee Meetings
Printing United Sept 23-25, 2026, Las Vegas, NV PRINTING United Expo is where you step away from the day-to-day and see what’s possible across commercial, apparel, packaging, wide format, and more, bringing the entire print industry into one place. https://www.printingunited.com
NAPM Feb 16-18, 2027, Orlando, FL NAPM's Annual Conference is a multi-day event combining the association's annual business meeting with educational sessions featuring industry and USPS speakers on postal policy, trends, and mailing requirements. https://napm.memberclicks.net/
Hunkeler Innovation Days
Sept 10, 2026
9:00 AM ET
Dec 10, 2026
9:00 AM ET
Kickoff 2027 Feb 8-10, 2027
Fort Lauderdale, FL
"Catch-up with Kim" Updates about Lighthouse 2030 Every Third Friday of the Month at 9:00 AM Please join CEO Kim Andersen every third friday of the month for an informal Microsoft Teams meeting to ask questions and catch updates about Lighthouse 2030. Recordings available on the BlueCrest Net.
Feb 22-25, 2027, Lucerne, Switzerland Hunkeler Innovationdays 2027 is a premier biennial trade show for the digital printing and finishing industry, scheduled to take place from February 22–25, 2027, at Messe Luzern in Lucerne, Switzerland https://www.innovationdays.com/
Calendar of Activities
Events
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M A R K E T I N G U P D AT E
NPS Score 2026 What Our Customers Told Us
A score like this is earned by you, on days you might not remember--but every customer will.
Kevin O'Connor Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer
In June, we asked our customers one question: how likely would they be to recommend BlueCrest to a friend or colleague? Sixty-eight of them answered, many with detailed comments about where we serve them well and where we have work ahead of us. The result was a Net Promoter Score of ~47 To put that in perspective, we posted a 21 on that same question in 2019. We have now held a score in the mid-40s for two consecutive years, which shows consistency. Consistency at this level is harder to achieve than a one-time spike, and it is the better indicator of whether we are delivering on what we promise. A score like this is earned in the field. It comes from service engineers who get a machine running before a mail deadline. It comes from software teams who
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resolve an issue before a customer has to escalate it. It comes from manufacturing, from supply chain, from the people answering phones and the people writing code. Fiftyseven percent of respondents rated us a nine or a ten. Every one of those ratings traces back to work someone here does, often on a day that person will not remember-- but the customer will. I saw the same thing at the Client Summit in the spring. Watching our team and our customers talk through industry trends together in the same room made something clear that a survey can only measure secondhand. The relationships last because people here take them seriously. The feedback also gave us a clear picture of where to focus. About a third of respondents placed us in the middle of the scale, and most of them scored us an 8. In NPS terms those responses count for nothing, which understates how close that group is to being promoters. Their comments point consistently toward service
responsiveness as the deciding factor, specifically how quickly we acknowledge an issue and how well we keep them informed while we work it. Moving even a portion of that group would put us above 50, the threshold most benchmarks treat as excellent performance. That is where our attention goes next. Over the past few weeks, our teams have been working through the verbatim comments and translating them into specific commitments. One last thought: sixty-eight customers took time out of a working day to tell us how we are doing, and thirty-nine of them said they would put their own credibility behind recommending us. That is a form of trust, and trust is the thing we are in the business of earning. Thank you for the work that made this score possible.
The Wave | August 2026
What is Net Promoter Score (NPS?) Customers answering one question on a 1-10 scale:
BlueCrest 2026 Results
.667
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H U M A N R E S O U R C E S U P D AT E
Building the Next Generation Of BlueCrest Leaders
"A closer look at the new Pre-Leadership Series for “manager curious” employees (US)." Abby Chinault Director HR Business Partner
At the end of June, BlueCrest launched a Pre-Leadership Series pilot designed for employees who are “manager curious” and interested in exploring whether people leadership may be the right next step in their career journey. This program was created to help employees understand what it truly means to be a people manager. The series focuses on providing an honest, practical view of people management, including both the rewards and the challenges. Through open discussion, self-reflection, and interactive learning, participants gained valuable insight into leadership expectations and the realities of managing and developing others. The pilot consisted of two 90-minute virtual sessions attended by US participants that were nominated by Service and Engineering leadership. Session One, “Demystifying the Manager Role,” featured a panel of experienced leaders sharing candid perspectives about their leadership journeys, lessons learned, and the
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day-to-day realities of managing teams. Participants were encouraged to ask questions and hear firsthand what leadership looks like beyond the job title. Session Two, “Ready or Getting Ready?,” focused on self-assessment, reflection, and practical application of people management objectives and expectations. Participants learned in more depth the BlueCrest People Management objectives: Communicate Effectively, Manage Performance, Develop Talent, Champion Change, and Act like an Owner. Through selfreflection activities and realistic management scenarios, participants were given an even more practical view of the challenges managers face and the decisions they are often required to navigate. The goal was not to determine who is ready for management today, but to help employees understand where they are on their development journey and identify opportunities for continued growth. The response to the pilot was overwhelmingly positive. Twenty-seven employees participated in the series, and feedback showed that the program achieved its primary objective: helping
participants gain greater clarity about leadership careers. Participants left with a stronger understanding of people management and the skills, expectations, and responsibilities needed to be successful in the role. 66% of participants reported being in As we look ahead, we are excited to expand this program in 2027 beyond service and engineering and to continue to build the next generation of BlueCrest leaders. We will be asking for nominations for 2027 participants in the US in Q4 of 2026. If this sounds like something you’re interested in participating in the next pre-leadership series, have a discussion with your manager about your people management goals. I’d also like to extend a special thank you Melissa Shamblin, Scott Brown, and Kurt Steiger who volunteered their time and openly shared their experiences as panelists in the pilot of this series. Their willingness to invest in the growth of others embodies the collaborative, development-focused culture we continue to build at BlueCrest.
The Wave | August 2026
Meet the Panel
Melissa Shamblin Area Service Manager
Scott Brown Field Service Supervisor
Kurt Steiger Director, Solutions Engineering
Abby Chinault Director, HR Business Partner
New BlueCrest Working at BlueCrest Video
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M A R K E T I N G U P D AT E
Social Media News and Content from BlueCrest LinkedIn
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The Wave | December 2025 The Wave | August 2026
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M A R K E T I N G U P D AT E
Blog Posts & PR Curated BlueCrest blog posts and press releases
What Real Partnership Looks Like in the Mail Production Industry So many vendor relationships in this industry are transactional by design. You buy equipment, you sign a service contract, you call when something breaks. The cadence is predictable, and the boundaries are clear. There is nothing wrong with that arrangement. It works. But operators who have spent any real time in mail and print know that the relationships which move the business forward look different
Reducing Print & Mail Workflow Risk With Service Programs in 2026 A practical guide for operations leaders evaluating how preventive maintenance, service level agreements, and compliance controls protect production print and mail uptime.
10 Questions for Enterprise Mail Automation Vendors Selecting an enterprise mail production vendor is a long-term decision. The equipment in your facility could run for 15 to 20 years. The software connecting your document composition, print, insertion, and sortation workflows will touch nearly every piece of mail your operation produces. Getting the evaluation right matters.
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The Wave | August 2026
ASK THE EXPERTS BLOG Our Ask the Experts blog on BlueCrestInc.com is not just a valuable resource for customers seeking insights and solutions—it’s also a key driver of our SEO strategy. By answering common industry questions and providing expert guidance, we’re boosting our search engine rankings, attracting more traffic, and increasing our visibility online.
Beyond the Sale: When Partners Become ProblemSolvers Equipment purchases in mail operations follow a familiar arc. A need arises, a partner proposes a solution, a contract gets signed, and a machine gets installed. From there, the relationship often narrows to service calls and replacement parts. The partner sells a system, and from there the system either performs --or it doesn't.
How Too Many Small Jobs Can Hurt Your High-Volume Mailroom Operations If you run a print and mail services operation of any real size, chances are your job list looks less like a handful of massive runs and more like a long tail of small ones. A facility processing a few million pieces a month might be spreading that volume across thousands of individual jobs, many of them small enough that the machine barely gets up to speed before it is time to slow down again.
5 Reasons Companies are Investing in Integrated Card Attaching
Card attaching has become one of the more consistent capital investments in high-volume mail production over the last several years. Companies that once outsourced card fulfillment or ran it on a dedicated stand-alone system are consolidating those workflows into their existing inserting platforms. The reasons are practical, and they tend to compound over time.
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BLUECREST
News & Photos Pics and events from around the company
Forever Young Kickball Tournament
BlueCrest fielded a team at this year's Forever Young Kickball Tournament, with captains Andre Daniel, Johnny Pech, and Juan Jimenez joined by Abel Gil, Steven Cuevas, Vanassa Ith, Norman Cruz, Yicet Sanchez, Veronica Sanchez, Cephus McAuley, Yadram Sumair, Daniel Garcia, Eduardo Nunes, and Chris Molina. Friends, family, and former colleagues rounded out the roster. Thanks to Mike Morales and Kelsey Danuszar for handling the tents, tables, and supplies. The team lost its opener 5-3, then rallied for wins of 6-2 and 6-5 to reach the playoffs before falling in the quarterfinals. The competitive spirit and good energy held all day, on our side and with the other teams. Everyone is already looking forward to next year. 12
The Wave | August 2026
Caroline Mendy First Place
Erik Padgett Third Place
Kamilla Wróblewska Second Place
BlueCrest Fit Summer Step Challenge 2026 Results
Over five weeks this summer, 84 BlueCrest employees across the globe laced up for the second annual Fit Summer Step Challenge. Together, we logged more than 30.6 million steps, roughly 14,500 miles collectively, and shattered last year's participation and step totals. Congratulations to our top individual finishers: Caroline Mendy took first place with an astonishing 1,236,404 steps, followed by Kamilla Wróblewska in second (1,208,795) and Erik Padgett in third (930,126). Caroline and Kamilla both crossed the one million step mark, a first in the history of the challenge. On the team side, congratulations to Team 8, our 2025 champions, who led wire to wire and finished with an average of 513,965 steps per team member. Thank you to everyone who participated and made this the biggest and best challenge yet.
Team 8 Champions 2026 Caroline Mendy Kamilla Wróblewska Niels Appelman François Salva Frederic Guenot Jennifer Aaron Isabelle Ravin Tanja Rummel
See you the next time around!
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ICARE RECOGNITION
Q2 High-Five 2026 Quarterly ICARE High-Five Awards Mary Rodriguez
Victor Olmos
Victor worked with RR Donnelley's Texas site to retrofit two APS machines, one already on site and a second brought in from another RR Donnelley location. The project called for module swapping, additions, and remoting, and Victor coordinated across the service organization to source every component he needed. He took the lead from the start and stayed with it through completion. The retrofit succeeded in no small part because of the effort he put into it, which is exactly the kind of resourcefulness the ICARE values are meant to recognize. Congratulations, Victor.
Andrew Bosco
Andrew joined the order management team last fall and quickly became a significant contributor to the orderto-cash process and the D365-CE migration. His recognition came from the international team, which had limited visibility into order status and struggled to set customer expectations or answer inquiries with confidence. Andrew built a written order backlog dashboard that shows where each order sits in the approval process, including where orders get stuck. The international team now spends far less time chasing status by email and can keep clients informed along the way.
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Mary ran into a recurring billing problem with a client account. The expedient path would have been to issue the credit, rebill, push it through the system, and wait for the same issue to surface the following month. Mary looked into why it kept happening instead. She traced the root cause and identified the need for a new workflow, which is now being implemented and will keep the problem from recurring. Going past the immediate fix to the underlying process is what makes a contribution durable. Well done, Mary.
David Torres
During a meeting, Brett Osborne mentioned the single-touch QR code program BlueCrest once offered customers and joked that it would be worth bringing back, ideally by April 1. The conversation moved on. David did not. He revamped the program, brought it back to life, and had it running by the April 1 date, then rolled it out beyond the original customer to the wider organization. Turning an offhand comment into a working program on a selfimposed deadline is a rare kind of initiative. Congratulations, David.
Infinity Plus Initiative Michael, Paul, and Jeff went well beyond their day jobs during one of the busiest stretches of the year to make sure the Infinity Plus systems shipped on time, arrived configured properly, and met expectations. What makes the contribution worth highlighting is how they did the work. They did not simply solve the problems in front of them. They took the additional time to mentor, teach, explain, and follow up, so the knowledge stayed with the team after the systems went out the door. Making your teammates better while delivering under pressure is the standard we want to see. Great job.
Michael Farrell, Paul Grasso, & Jeffrey Walker
The Wave | August 2026
FIS Emergency Virtual Server Initiative
When a virtual server group of hosted systems went down at FIS, the client reached out to our sales colleague with a clear sense of urgency. She contacted Kurt, and by the following day he had assembled a team of specialists and a plan for rebuilding the environment. Each person on the team carried a specific piece of the work. Together they brought the servers back, restored the BlueCrest solutions running in that environment, and returned FIS to production. Ryan Bliss, Director of Operations at FIS, wrote to express his appreciation for the dedication our team showed throughout the emergency. Well done, all of you.
Kenneth Bailey
Marvin Kennedy
Kurt Steiger
Charles Card
Michael Knezel
Kenneth Davis
John Pugh
Scott Johnson
Salesforce Transition Initiative Pratap Krish nominated Joe, Karyn, and Paul for their work over several months on the CRM transition, and the nomination ran long for good reason. His description centered less on deliverables and more on how the three of them worked: unselfish and team focused, supportive of colleagues, and consistent in offering encouragement when the project hit its inevitable rough patches. They were accountable and dependable, delivering what they said they would deliver on the timelines they committed to. The list of adjectives he used included diligent, dedicated, positive, drama free, humble, and empathetic. Thank you, Joe, Karyn, and Paul.
Joe Bowen
Karyn Bridges Paul Richards
Parajett, Sweden Initiative This team designed and proposed a solution that replaced multiple legacy systems at Parajett, pairing an Intelligent Advantage 2200 high-speed inkjet machine with a Reman mailstream productivity series and Evolution inserter, along with comprehensive software upgrades. The result was a new sale and a fully modernized production environment for the client. The work spanned Germany, Norway, and Finland, which makes it a genuine example of what cross-functional collaboration across our international markets can produce. Congratulations to all four of you.
Jens Hornung
Vidar Johansen
Wolfgang Kay
Matti Saalamo
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S e c o n d Q u a r te r, 2 0 26
Milestones 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 do to make BlueCrest great.
40 Years
Mark Dearinger Glenn C Bury
35 Years
Christopher Floyd David Cossentine Joseph Tseng Pascal Hurpy Reiner Koegler
Retirements Douglas Haake Albert Viglione Perry Atwell James White John Riordan Arthur De Poi Iskander Tokmouline Dennis Bryant Cyrille Decourt Patrice Fischer Miguel Ramon Beatrice Reinbold
30 Years
David Tuinman Andrew Bruce Jason Harbert Marco Chericoni Dirk Leweringhaus Brad Swinford
25 Years
Mark Slobodkin Emilie Thorogood Jens Hornung Jimmy Gresham Timothy Thering Roger Snow Robert Bogrette Christopher King
10 Years
Jason Jordan Gary Roller
20 Years
Julious Defreitas Kerry Franklin Adib Khazzaka Harry Lake
15 Years
Michael Dean Patrick Kephart Bernard Drion Al Welch
5 Years
Doyce Thomas Kelsey Danuszar-Bova Arleta Papaj Richard Serum Katherine Sheeran Michael Cahill Andre Daniel Jacob Pye Piotr Grzegorczyk Shane Becker Jon Pubentz Jeremy Fulton Deana Lagana Simon Mead Dennis Jacklen
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The Wave | August 2026
Send us your stories and photos. Got Content? Send an email to Justin O'Donnell for consideration! justin.odonnell@blucrestinc.com
Paul Burgarino, Director of Vote by Mail,Colorado
For more information visit us online: bluecrestinc.com BlueCrest and the Corporate logo are trademarks of BlueCrest or a BlueCrest subsidiary. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ©2021 BlueCrest (a d/b/a of DMT Solutions Global Corporation). All rights reserved.
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