Industry News

IN BRIEF Shredding Event Breaks Guinness World Record Alpine Bank, based in Belvidere, Ill., reports that a one-day shredding event it held with Paper Recovery Service Corp., Loves Park, Ill., and Boston-based Iron Mountain has broken the Guinness World Record for the most paper shredded in one day. The bank says a total of 253,318 pounds of paper were shredded at the Sept. 10, 2011, event—nearly triple the previous record of 87,360 pounds.   GRM Partners with California Health Information Association Jersey City, N.J.-based GRM Document Management has announced its corporate partnership with CHIA (California Health Information Association). GRM's California presence includes RIM facilities in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Alone and through strategic alliances, the company has developed a range of products and services designed to benefit the clinical, admissions, explanation of benefits, accounts payable and human resources areas of the health care industry. GRM has eight locations in the United States as well as three locations in China.   Eagle Secure Shredding Receives Certification Eagle Secure Shredding, Atlanta, has been certified to the National Association for Information Destruction's (NAID's) AAA Standard. Eagle Secure Shredding has been certified for on-site shredding of paper and printed material as well as for hard-drive destruction using its mobile shredding trucks.

Cornerstone Records Breaks Ground on Expansion
The document storage firm Cornerstone Records Management LLC, headquartered in Columbia, Md., has broken ground on a planned 20,000-square-foot expansion of its Dupont Archives records facility in Bristol, Conn. According to Cornerstone, construction is expected to be complete by the first half of 2012.

Dupont Archives, which Cornerstone acquired in early October 2011, provides customers throughout New England with document storage, data protection, document scanning and secure document destruction services.

Ken Dupont, Bristol facility general manager, says, "This first-phase expansion will add approximately 20,000 square feet to our existing Bristol facility. This building expansion allows us to service new and existing records management customers in a state-of-the art, state-approved facility. We expect to have the new addition fully operational by June 1. In addition, our location allows for additional expansion if needed down the road."

The facility will measure nearly 88,000 square feet when the expansion is complete.

Cornerstone provides a wide range of services, including the storage and management of hard copy records, both plant based and mobile document destruction services, electronic media vaulting and digital imaging.
 

NAID Introduces Asian Chapter
The board of directors of the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID), the Phoenix-based nonprofit trade association for the secure destruction industry, has approved the creation of the NAID – Asia Region chapter.

NAID CEO Bob Johnson says, "We've seen membership numbers in the region increasing steadily over the years. Recently, however, interest in both membership and in NAID Certification simply reached the point where action was warranted."

The association's decision to establish operations in Asia follows a series of meetings with NAID officials and more than 75 industry representatives in Tokyo, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok in October 2011.

NAID President Ray Barry says, "The forming of NAID – Asia was bound to happen. The region's economies are thriving, and service providers, as well as the businesses they serve, are beginning to realize that they need to take data destruction more seriously." Barry adds, "Under those circumstances, it is inevitable that vendor qualifications will become a bigger issue."

According to NAID, interest from electronic scrap processors and hard copy destruction firms in bringing the association to the region was strong.

"Their economies are blossoming at a time when there is more investment in electronic media," Johnson says of the interest from the e-scrap sector in Asia. "They simply have less dependency on legacy paper media formats than you find in the West."
 

Iron Mountain Opens Toronto Facility
Iron Mountain Inc., Boston, has opened a new shredding and baling facility in Toronto. According to the company, the 47,000-square-foot plant is expected to shred approximately 15,000 tons of paper in 2012.

The shredding plant is Iron Mountain's first in Toronto and the company's fourth in Canada. Iron Mountain also has plant-based shredding operations in Vancouver, British Columbia; Calgary, Alberta; and Montreal.

"We're excited to open this facility and offer these services to the greater Toronto area," says Dave Carey, director, secure shredding, Iron Mountain. "Our secure shredding services are built upon our industry-leading chain-of-custody process, providing an auditable, defensible and efficient means to destroy critical and sensitive information." He adds, "This facility will combine modern equipment, efficient workflow engineering and unique features that ensure customers have peace of mind when disposing of sensitive materials."

Carey, who also is chairman of the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) – Canada and a board member of NAID, says the new plant will take in material that has been shredded in the field by Iron Mountain as well as material that needs to be shredded. Shredded paper delivered to the facility will be directed to an area where the material can be immediately baled.

The new facility will process material from three bulk collection trucks, 12 mobile shredding trucks, three box trucks and six tractor trailers.

Iron Mountain's secure shredding services are NAID AAA certified.
 

Canadian Government Attempts to Enhance Individuals' Privacy
Christian Paradis, Canada's minister of industry, has announced the re-introduction of amendments to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) in the House of Commons in an attempt to further protect the privacy of Canadians during commercial transactions.

"Ensuring trust and confidence through the protection of personal information is essential to the growth of the digital economy," Paradis says. "Our government will continue to help protect consumers and businesses from the misuse of their personal information, thereby increasing confidence in the online marketplace."

PIPEDA sets privacy rules for the collection, use and disclosure of personal information in a way that is designed to balance the privacy rights of individuals with measures to maintain the flow of information required by businesses.

The bill includes provisions designed to better protect and empower consumers, clarify and streamline rules for business and enable investigations by law enforcement and security agencies. A key amendment would require organizations to report material breaches of personal information to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. Affected individuals also would be notified when there was a risk of harm, such as identity theft.

The proposed amendments also allow for the release of personal information to help protect victims of financial abuse and include measures designed to better protect the privacy of minors online.

Paradis says, "These amendments are based on extensive consultations and will help us maintain a balanced and practical approach to privacy law."

The new bill acts on the government's October 2007 Response to the Report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics arising from the first Parliamentary review of the act. The response addressed each of the 25 recommendations contained in the committee's report and committed to amending the act in agreement with many of the committee's recommendations, according to Industry Canada.

Freightways Acquires Iron Mountain's New Zealand Operations
New Zealand-based Freightways has agreed to acquire Iron Mountain New Zealand Ltd. (IMNZ), a subsidiary of Boston-based Iron Mountain Inc., for approximately US$10 million. The deal was completed Oct. 1, 2011.

The acquired assets include three storage centers and one storage and destruction location. All four of the buildings housing the acquired operations are leased.

IMNZ will be merged with Freightways' Online Security Services Ltd. (OSS) subsidiary. The combined company will provide service throughout New Zealand. Freightways presently has roughly 1,500 customers.

According to Freightways, capital expenditures related to the acquisition are expected to be $1 million.

Freightways says the acquisition is consistent with its growth strategy to acquire complementary businesses and to increase its penetration in the information management market.

Freightways also has established operations throughout Australia and currently operates 16 facilities in New Zealand and Australia.
 

Allshred Services Acquires Mid Ohio Shredding
Allshred Services, Maumee, Ohio, has acquired Mid Ohio Shredding, based in Westerville, Ohio.

Mid Ohio Shredding has provided on-site and off-site shredding services for the past seven years.

Willie Geiser, president and CEO of Allshred Services, says, "With the acquisition of Mid Ohio Shredding, it further increases our market share in the Columbus area, which has always been a priority for us in our home state of Ohio."

He adds, "Mid Ohio Shredding was a well-run company with a good client base. We're looking forward to adding those clients to the Allshred family."

Edward Deim, former owner of Mid Ohio Shredding, says, "We are proud to have merged with a NAID-Certified company that has been in business for over 22 years, knowing that they will continue to provide the highest level of secure document destruction services that our customers require and deserve."

Allshred says it would like to continue to grow through acquisitions, expanding within and beyond its existing six-state footprint.
 

Recall Expands its Use of RFID Technology
Norcross, Ga.-based Recall, a global leader in document storage, secure document destruction, digital document management and data protection, has announced that its radio frequency identification (RFID) program is now available for individual files and media tapes.

Recall says its secure facilities were the first in North America to use RFID technology for the inventorying of cartons in 2007. Since then, tens of millions of Recall cartons now use the technology globally, according to the company. With its RFID capabilities, Recall says it can scan and audit more than 300 cartons in less than 30 seconds.

Additionally, RFID helps Recall support compliance regulations, including regional privacy acts and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), by providing customers with audit reports that confirm and validate the location of every RFID carton stored, the company says.

Elton Potts, Recall group president and chief operating officer, says, "By providing rapid and accurate inventorying of cartons and individual documents, companies can obtain a regular audit of their holdings on a consistent basis in a cost-effective manner."

Craig Johnson, director of procurement at Perry Ellis, says, "Having RFID tags on our cartons is very important to us at Perry Ellis, and it's one of the reasons we chose Recall over their competitors. This added layer of security and accuracy allows for seamless and timely inventory tracking when we need it." He adds that Recall is proud to be able to extend its use of RFID technology.

Dick Surdykowski, vice president of sales and marketing, Recall North America, says 20 percent of Recall's carton inventory, or 20 million cartons, has been converted to RFID technology. This is often done when a carton is checked out of a Recall facility. "Any new customer is RFID tagged at carton level," he adds.
 

Kent Imaging Acquires Total Records Solutions of Michigan
Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Kent Record Management Inc., a provider of records management, storage, vaulted services, imaging, electronic records and online backup and recovery, has announced the acquisition of the assets of Total Records Solutions, Wyoming, Mich.

The acquisition further expands Kent Record Managements' client base and the scale of its operations in west, north Michigan and mid-Michigan as well as in the state's Upper Peninsula, according to the company.

Adam Tol of Total Records Solutions will continue to run imaging operations and will transfer to the Kent Record Management location in Walker, Mich. Benjamin Gallagher will join the sales team at Kent Record Management.

Under the Kent Record Management and Kent Imaging name, former Total Record Solutions clients can now access full-service records and information management (RIM) support, including hard copy storage management with online access; vaulted media services, including off-site backup tape rotation; online electronic records management; online backup and recovery services; and RIM professional services that include RIM assessments and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) training.

"Kent Records is pleased to announce our fourth RIM business acquisition and welcomes our new clients throughout Michigan," says Greg George, president of Kent Record Management and Kent Imaging.

"We are excited about our new team members from Total Records and our new capabilities," he adds. "This acquisition displays our commitment to providing world-class RIM services throughout the great state of Michigan."

Survey Explores the Role of Document Management in Business
Spending for document management services is expected to increase or remain level during the next 12 months, according to a survey conducted by Oce Business Services, headquartered in Venlo, The Netherlands.

A majority of executives reported their organizations' top business goal for this year is to reduce costs, closely followed by increase revenue and improve operational performance. According to survey respondents, because it positively affects their organizations' ability to meet these goals, document process management is a priority.

The survey report, "The Goal Standard: How Companies Leverage Document Management to Help Meet their Top Business Goals," examines how organizations are leveraging document management processes, including mail, records and print/copy center management, managed print services (MPS) and document imaging to help meet their key objectives in 2011 through 2012.

More than one-third of the organizations surveyed outsource some or all of their document management activities. The respondents identified the strongest areas for outsourcing as mail/shipping management (45 percent), followed by MPS (40 percent), document imaging (37 percent), records management (35 percent) and print/copy center management (35 percent).

The key drivers behind why organizations outsource vary by document management category, according to the survey. According to the survey, the top two reasons organizations outsource document imaging are to streamline access to data and to improve customer service efficiency.

In addition to investigating budgeting plans, the survey also asked executives to spotlight key program implementation details for document imaging. A significant number of companies have implemented imaging on a departmental level. However, implementing imaging throughout the organization or on a division level represents an opportunity for many companies, Oce says.

According to Oce, its survey report is based on responses to 105 online surveys completed by executives responsible for document management processes for their organizations.

The full survey report is available at www.obs-innovation.com.

Proshred Adds two Franchise Locations
Redishred Capital Corp., Mississauga, Ontario, has announced that its Proshred Franchising Corp. subsidiary has entered into agreements with two new franchisees. The new franchise offices will be in Phoenix and Atlanta and are expected to be operational by early 2012, according to Redishred.

Proshred currently has 19 franchise locations offering on-site document destruction services.

John Prittie, Redishred president, says, "We are very excited to award two new franchisees in the month of September and are very happy to add to our collective team two franchisees with a wealth of business and operational experience. These locations are important as they help fill our location foot print in very key markets."

Greg Galvez, the new Atlanta franchisee, says in a press release issued by Redishred, "I view the Proshred brand and operating system as assets that can be leveraged to produce significant returns on my investments over time." He adds, "The quality of the people involved is what ultimately swayed my decision to act now."

Joe and Patty Caradonna, the owners of the new Phoenix franchise, say, "We had been researching the shredding industry for approximately three years and contemplated opening our own shredding operation. While conducting our research, we discovered and eventually selected Proshred because we firmly believe that there is solid demand for a quality customer service oriented document destruction firm such as Proshred in the greater Phoenix area." They add, "Proshred attracted us because of its solid infrastructure and support system in addition to its successful base of existing locations. I look forward to growing a successful and quality driven business with the Proshred organization."

According to Redishred, its combined Proshred locations reported sales of slightly less than $7.5 million for the first half of 2011, a 19 percent increase from the same period in 2010.

More information about Proshred franchise locations is available at www.proshred.com.

Redishred Capital Corp. is a publicly traded investment company focused on the document shredding and recycling industry. More information is available at www.redishred.com.