In an Era of Information Theft, This Company Chomps and Stores

You might say the company has an appetite of sorts - for paper.

When it's not stacking thousands upon thousands of confidential files, WesTex Document Inc., is chomping through 250 tons a month of files and other records produced by companies, hospitals - even law enforcement.

Now it's about to make one of its biggest jumps in years - protecting documents for a nuclear enrichment program.

For retired Army Lt. Col. John Miller, protecting and destroying sensitive information that's at risk every day is a personal crusade.

"Information theft is one of the biggest crimes we face as a nation," he said. "What I can't understand is why we still have businesses out there tossing this information into a Dumpster."

Miller, a homeland security expert, said he knew when he left the military he wanted to make use of an MBA he earned years earlier at Oklahoma City University to start his own business.

"I thought I wanted to own a muffler shop or a Merry Maids (franchise)," he joked.

John Miller CEO WesTex Document (Staci Gray)

But document destruction?

Well, that wasn't exactly at the top of his list until he came across an advertisement in a military magazine promoting mobile document shredding.

"I didn't have $120,000 for the vehicle. So I bought a truck, a generator and hooked it to a big office shredder that I carried around in Midland," he said.

Unfortunately, the portable system was eventually copied by a larger competitor. It didn't put him out of business, but it definitely made Miller refocus and look at the larger picture. Lubbock and its central location made great business sense.

Since then, this Reese Technology Center business has flourished - growing from a company with just four employees in 2003 to one that employs 33 today.

"So far this year, we've been adding one or two employees a month," said Jody Perez, the company's vice president.

Perez said while document shredding accounts for about 65 percent of the business, WesTex continues to expand into other areas, like paper document management, media storage, digital imaging and electronic archiving services.

But Miller says the company's biggest jump into the information protection age has yet to come.

Later this month, WesTex will accept the first shipments of sensitive nuclear documents from Eunice, N.M., where Louisiana Energy Services - a multinational consortium - is preparing to ramp up a $1.5 billion uranium enrichment operation.

To that end, WesTex made the decision to invest $250,000 to construct a 15,000-square-foot fortified vault - the first of its kind in West Texas.

"We start receiving those documents from them next week. These are records that will be store here for 75 years," Perez said.

Miller said the vault was specifically built for LES. "And we did it without a contract in hand."

Three on-site audits, and $15,000 in additional costs to produce a procedures and training manual eventually landed the long-term contract at the company's doorstep.

Call it a leap of faith, but Miller said it was well worth the money.

Perez said Miller's foresight and security background also helped seal the deal.

"He runs (WesTex) with military precision," Perez said.

Miller is also a shrewd businessman.

Perez said instead of taking its shredded debris to the local landfill, WesTex turns every 20 tons of shredded paper into a $4,000 profit - shipping it all to a recycling mill.

"None of what we produce here goes into the local landfill and it's all environmentally friendly," Perez said.

When the company isn't destroying product in-house, it's on the road with three mobile shredders, where 20 percent of its customers get a ringside view of the destruction.

Miller said one truck can chomp its way through 8,000 pounds of material an hour.

Miller, at one time, was directly involved in honing the rules that established guidelines for document destruction as a founding member of the National Association for Information Destruction.

However, he said he became disenchanted with the organization after it became apparent some of its members just did what they wanted.

"I was very involved in the industry, but we had a lot of people who were shredding confidential information, that hadn't been verified ... so I left," he said.

Miller said he chose Reese Technology Center because of its location and the opportunity to take over the former U.S. Air Force base's commissary - a reminder of his earlier military days.

Since its arrival at Reese, WesTex has added 5,000 square feet to its current 40,000-square-foot facility, with an eye toward more space.

"When I moved out there five years ago, we had four employees and sales of $400,000. Today, our payroll is more than that and our sales will be over $2 million this year," he said.

Miller said he takes document security personally.

"We have terrorists and others involved in drugs who make use of identity theft for their own causes. Everything we do here is about protecting businesses," he said.

WesTex serves customers within a 150-mile radius.

As for expanding beyond that point, Perez said that will come in time.

"We have 3,000 customers who depend on us. One thing we don't want to do is grow too fast," he said.

Miller said he's baffled why so many companies still insist on using good office space and employee time to destroy their own documents.

He said one of his first customers involved a CPA firm in the Permian Basin.

"If bean counters can see the cost effectiveness and importance of this, anyone should be able to see it."

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