Masters of destruction

0 Comments | La Crosse Tribune, Jun 23, 2003 | by Cahalan, Steve

WESTBY, Wis. - Word is spreading about Confidential Document Services Inc., a Westby company that has been shredding confidential and excess documents throughout southern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa since 1994.

So it's about to open a second shredding facility.

CDS has about 600 clients, such as hospitals, banks, grocery warehouses, dentist offices, accounting firms and law firms. It specializes in destruction of confidential paper documents and all types of electronic and magnetic media, plastics, film and microfiche.

The items are shredded at the CDS processing facility in Westby, although customers have the option of having material shredded at their place of business before being sent to Westby. Those who choose the latter option which costs more - can watch their material shredded at their place of business by an on-site shredding truck.

CDS plans to open its second processing facility by Aug. 1 in Stoughton, near Madison, to expand its presence in the Madison market and to enter markets in Milwaukee and northern Illinois.

Doug Breidel, who is the company's owner, president and chief executive officer, said his son-in-law, Raven Kinney, will be operations manager of the new Stoughton facility. And Kinney's wife, Gretchen, will be the new facility's sales representative.

Breidel's son, John, is the company's general manager.

CDS has three trucks and will use one of them at its new facility in Stoughton. Breidel said he expects to buy a second truck for the Stoughton operation before the end of the year.

Breidel and three partners - whom he has since bought out started the company in December 1993 in Westby. The processing facility began shredding items in March 1994.

"After a year, we had between 50 and 100 customers," Breidel said. "They were all within an hour's drive" of Westby.

"Now, we go as far east as Rochester and Austin, Minn., as far north as Eau Claire, northeast to Stevens Point and Wausau, south to Dubuque, Iowa, and east to just east of Madison," Breidel said.

"A large portion of our growth in the last couple years has been in the Madison area," he said. "We decided if we're going to grow, that's where we should grow," he said of the decision to open the Stoughton facility.

The company has nine employees and will add another after it opens the Stoughton shredding operation.

Breidel said CDS sales have grown as businesses have become increasingly aware of the need to destroy confidential documents - such as documents with credit card or Social Security numbers, canceled checks, financial records, legal records, insurance and medical records, tax returns and proprietary business information. "Awareness has increased dramatically in the last four years," he added.

He said privacy concerns and Wisconsin legislation that took effect in 2000 increased the importance of securing and properly disposing of such information.

New federal privacy rules that took effect in April for hospitals, pharmacies, health insurance companies and other health-care groups also are generating more business for companies such as CDS. The rules were mandated by the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

With stricter state and federal regulations regarding privacy, Breidel said, more companies are using professional document shredders. Companies are increasingly aware that they should not throw sensitive materials into their trash, he said.

CDS provides a certificate of destruction to clients as proof that their records have been destroyed.

The company offers customers three sizes of locked security containers. CDS picks up the full containers at the customer's place of business, then hauls them by truck to Westby for shredding.

"Paper is probably 90 percent of our business, but the plastics area has been growing," Breidel said. An example of plastics is prescription drug bottles with information on them.

CDS also is looking into the possibility of offering documentstorage services. It could store documents for customers until the customer wants them destroyed. Some documents are required to be kept for a certain period of time.

At the company's Westby facility, the shredded paper is compressed into 1,000-pound bales, which are shipped to paper mills and reprocessed into paper products such as paper towels, facial tissue and bathroom tissue.

Magazines, newspapers and cardboard are shredded separately, and supplied to area farmers for use as animal bedding.

Other items, such as plastics, film and microfiche, also are shredded and recycled.

"Everything is shredded within 48 hours of when it arrives here," Breidel said. Items remain in locked containers until they are shredded.

CDS is a member of the National Association for Information Destruction, which promotes awareness of the need for secure disposal of confidential documents.

"We have a great staff here," Breidel said of his employees. "A client called last week specifically to let us know how pleasant and professional our drivers are. And we've heard that many times before."