Holiday Labor Shortages? BlueCrest Automation Maintains Throughput & Accuracy

Written at Nov 20, 2024 8:59:09 AM by Justin O'Donnell

Don't Fret Holiday Labor Shortages

BlueCrest’s automation solutions empower you to keep pace, even with a lean team. By leveraging cutting-edge technology, mail production facilities and warehouses can address labor shortages and ensure timely delivery of critical materials like holiday marketing campaigns, invoices, parcels, and promotional offers.

Automating for Efficiency and AccuracyBlueCrest parcel automation reduces warehouse labor shortages

High-speed printers, inserters, and sorters reduce reliance on manual labor. Our equipment is designed to seamlessly handle large volumes of mail at speeds unattainable with traditional processes. This not only helps businesses stay on schedule but also minimizes errors that can occur with manual handling, protecting customer trust during a high-stakes season. There's a reason BlueCrest is the market leader in high-speed insertion systems worldwide: we've been doing this for a long time.

Take, for example, BlueCrest’s high-speed Epic inserting system. The Epic combines precision and power, allowing operators to process complex jobs with minimal intervention. This automation eliminates repetitive tasks, freeing up staff to focus on higher-value activities like quality assurance and customer service. Meanwhile, the Mailstream Evolution (MSE) inserting system is a powerful mid-speed inserter that can cover the needs of both transactional and direct mailers. It can easily shift from cut-sheet to continuous forms, switch between processing letters or flats, handle a wide range of envelope sizes, and support barcode scanning in a variety of different places. 

Simplifying Workflows with Cloud-Based Software

Automation doesn’t stop at hardware. BlueCrest’s cloud-based software solutions streamline workflows, enabling mail production facilities to meet service-level agreements (SLAs) with greater efficiency. By centralizing job management and providing real-time visibility into operations, these systems reduce the learning curve for seasonal employees and make it easier to onboard new jobs.

For businesses operating with skeleton crews, software solutions like DirectView help optimize productivity by offering intuitive dashboards, automated alerts, and data-driven insights. Managers can make informed decisions quickly, ensuring that resources are allocated where they’re needed most.

Automation Reduces Warehouse Labor Shortages

In warehouses and fulfillment centers, warehouse labor shortages during peak seasons can disrupt operations, but warehouse automation offers a reliable solution. BlueCrest’s parcel automation solutions, including high-speed parcel sorters and robotics, reduce the need for manual sorting, picking, and packing. These technologies are specifically designed to handle the surges in e-commerce orders and ensure accurate, timely deliveries.Robot sorts parcels to ease warehouse labor shortages

For example, automated parcel sorters enable facilities to process thousands of packages per hour, ensuring that items are sorted correctly without requiring a large team of workers. Meanwhile, robotics systems streamline warehouse operations by automating repetitive tasks, such as picking and packing, so that minimal staff can focus on managing exceptions and ensuring quality. This reduces warehouse labor shortages.

The secret sauce, however, is our SE360 sorting software.  This innovative software engine connects multiple sortation equipment types, including letters, flats, mixed mail, and parcels, to deliver increased productivity, cost savings, and operational efficiency. BlueCrest offers both cloud-based (Strata Platform) and on-premise versions of SortEngine 360, catering to diverse customer needs.

Success in Every Season

Robot elves working in Santas workshop

Labor shortages are a growing concern for industries worldwide, but during the holiday rush, the stakes are even higher. BlueCrest’s automation solutions help businesses overcome holiday labor shortages, maintaining throughput and accuracy when it matters most.

By combining state-of-the-art hardware with intelligent software, BlueCrest ensures that mail production facilities are equipped to thrive—even during periods of peak demand and staffing constraints.

Stay tuned for the next installment in our Holiday Hustle blog series, where we’ll dive into ways to ensure system reliability during high-demand seasons.

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Justin O'Donnell

BlueCrest

Justin is Marketing Communications Manager for BlueCrest.

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