| Firm shreds confidential records to the max |
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By: By ERIN EDGEMON Business Editor - May 14, 2007 - 1:04 PM
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Thomas Bruff Jr.'s office is his truck.
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Thomas Bruff Jr.'s office is his truck.
He spends most of his five-day workweek in and out of his diesel-fueled truck equipped with state-of-the-art shredding equipment.
Bruff, a former executive at the Nashville Superspeedway and healthcare advisor for the Tennessee Legislature, saw an opportunity to get into the unlikely document and materials destruction business after watching CNN one morning two years ago.
Some Congressmen, who were in the process of introducing federals laws that require businesses to destroy information rather than just thrown away, were being interviewed.
Bruff founded Murfreesboro-based MaxShred about a year and a half ago and already has clients that extend out to a 75-mile radius of the city. MaxShred provides touchless on-site shredding of documents and other materials such a CDs, DVDs and prescription bottles. Bruff continues to add new customers each month.
He has found a passion for providing an affordable service that protects customers and employees personal information from identity theft — one of the fastest-growing crimes in the country.
"Anyone who is an entrepreneur can appreciate the rewards at the end of the day," Bruff said even if those days are 12 hours or sometimes 14 hours long.
He admitted that getting into the business was "extremely risky because there is a considerable amount of capital on the front end."
Bruff didn't want the amount of his investment printed.
He began researching the industry on the Internet shorting after the news broadcast and learned there weren't any such companies owned and operated in Middle Tennessee.
"My goal was to have the most advanced equipment that would be unparalleled in the market," Bruff said. "I felt there was a need for a company that could provide first-class services that is most secure.
"At the end of the day it is about being aggressive and treating customers as partners and not account numbers," Bruff added later.
Bruff said these new federal privacy laws, most notably HIPPA and FACTA, gave him an opportunity to get in on the ground floor offering what he calls an essential service to small, medium and large businesses.
No company large or small is excluded from these laws, he said.
"It is an essential service for anyone who cares about practicing good business practices," Bruff said.
Coley & Coley Family Eye Care started utilizing MaxShred's services about six months ago when it starting the process of purging 18 years worth of records from its office.
"We had just stacks of thousands of records," said Anita Dozier, director of operations at Coley & Coley. "There was no way we could do it ourselves."
The eye care practice filled up 20 to 25 of MaxShred's bins with sensitive documents during the clean out. Each of those bins hold up to 350 pounds of paper.
Dozier said Bruff had all of the documents shredded in two hours.
Coley & Coley now uses MaxShred to shred all of its sensitive documents. The service provides Dozier with the peace of mind that documents with patients' personal information are being disposed of properly.
"It has really been a money saver for us employee wise and time wise especially," Dozier said.
McKnight Insurance is saving hundreds of dollars by utilizing MaxShred's services, said the insurance agency's owner Edwin McKnight.
"It saves us time," he said "It is less expensive for (Bruff) to come by than having my employees spending time shredding papers. We would go through a $100 shredder every six months."
Before hiring MaxShred, McKnight said he would pay someone to shred sensitive documents, or they would be taken out to the country and burned.
Bruff said MaxShred is the only shredding company operating locally that utilizes the latest technology. His truck is equipped with security cameras so clients can be assured their documents are being shredded on site. Clients receive a certificate of destruction to put in their records.
"This technology will destroy 5,000 pounds of paper in an hour," he said of the shredder on his truck. "In a typical week we are probably shredding 20,000 pounds of paper."
"This machine will destroy one piece of paper in about 185 different places," Bruff added.
All of the shredded materials are recycled. Bruff dumps his truck, which can hold up to 10,000 pounds of material, at a distribution center for one of North America's largest recyclers two to three times a week. There for added security the paper is chemically washed to remove any ink.
Nothing is taken to the landfill or is used for packing material, Bruff said.
By 2008, Bruff hopes to add a second truck to his fleet. Over the next two to three years, MaxShred will continue to expand services likely to West Tennessee and possibly East Tennessee.
"The marketplace is going to drive that," he said.
Erin Edgemon can be reached at 869-0812 and at eedgemon@murfreesboropost.com.
MaxShred
692-9682
www.maxshred.com
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