Paper chase lucrative for data handler Knox: Company may triple staff to meet scan demand

Dec 01, 2008 (Messenger-Inquirer - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- KMB | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- If the economy is tanking and businesses are hibernating, don't tell Denny Alford.

The president of Owensboro-based Knox Technologies is in a bullish mood.

"The next five years will be exciting for us," he says. "I tell people to fasten their seat belts. There are a lot of opportunities and challenges in the next year."

The 9-year-old company, which has a staff of 13, finally turned a profit a year ago.

And now, it's ready to move.

"By this time next year, we'll have doubled or tripled our staff," Alford said. "The economy hasn't bothered us at all. We're benefiting as companies try to cut their costs."

Knox Technologies operates in a lot of areas, but its biggest business is in converting paper documents to computer databases.

"We're scanning 3 million pages for Deaconess Hospital at the rate of 20,000 pages a day," said Dan Medley, who heads the company's new business development department. "Eventually, we'll be digitizing 19 million pages for them.

"If they ever need paper copies, they can call us 24/7, and we'll make copies for them," he said.

"That's an exciting company," Nick Brake, president of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp., said recently. "Denny's really hitting a niche market. And a lot of his clients are from out of town, so he's bringing new money into the local economy."

EDC has been targeting entrepreneurs and technology companies for several years. And Knox Technologies fits both categories, Brake said.

Alford grew up in a construction family and worked in the engineering department at Texas Gas Transmission Corp. for 23 years.

"I was the supervisor of the design section when I left," he said. "The last two years, I worked on ways for five companies to handle their documents."

In January 2000, using the knowledge he gained from that experience, Alford started Knox Technologies in his house.

Five years ago, he moved the company to the old North American Phillips plant on Kentronics Drive in the city's West Industrial Park.

"We're out here to keep our overhead low," Alford said. "We have very little debt now."

The company has 12,000 square feet of office space and 48,000 square feet of warehouse.

"There's a lot of sweat equity in this building," Alford said. "At first, we worked during the day and then painted and did other work on the building at night."

The company is named for Alford.

"My first name is Knox," he said. "Denny's Technologies didn't have the same ring."

"We can store documents for pennies on the dollar compared to what companies are spending to store paper documents," Medley said. "They can use those document storage rooms for other needs. I tell people if you have an idea, bring it to us, and we'll find a way to do it."

Once digitized, those 19 million pages of Deaconess documents will fit into a metal box the size of a toaster -- with room left over for another 19 million pages.

The data is backed up off-site as well, Medley said.

Owensboro Area Shelter, Information & Services Inc. hired Knox Technologies to digitize its records last year.

"OASIS is required to retain client files for a period of six years, and space became a huge problem for us," Brenda Jones, the executive director, wrote in a letter of recommendation. "Knox scanned all of our files into a client database, and we were able subsequently to remodel and make more effective use of our office space."

The building on Kentronics Drive has high security, because three of its clients have to meet Homeland Security standards. "We have motion detectors in our ceilings," Alford said.

Installing that security equipment led to Knox Technologies becoming a dealer for digital video surveillance systems, he said.

The company digitizes more than paper documents.

"Microfilm degrades in time," Alford said. "We can scan it and digitize it to preserve it. Museum archives are a potentially lucrative area."

The company can also digitize old recordings -- 78 rpm, 45 rpm and 33 1/3 rpm.

"And we have the largest copier within 100 miles of Owensboro," Alford said. "We can make 450 copies of a 24-by-36-inch blueprint or other documents an hour."

The company can photocopy documents too damaged to go through the copy machine, and it can copy pages bound in books, he said.

"We scanned 40,000 engineering documents for a company in Tennessee," Alford said. "We did the scanning in three weeks and the data entry in four months. Now, they can look up anything in a heartbeat. They don't have to go to a document room and hunt it."

The company has a vault for sensitive documents and microfilm.

And it provides a free shredding service for its customers once they no longer need the paper files.

The shredded paper goes to Kimberly-Clark to be recycled into toilet tissue.

"We also have meeting rooms that can be used for organizations around town," Alford said.

The large meeting room can seat 28 people around a 24-foot cigar-shaped conference table, and the small room can handle 12.

"It's a way to let the community know we're here," Alford said.

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