Document company celebrates expansion

The company started with two workers in Youngstown and now has 100.
YOUNGSTOWN -- So you think you've got clutter problems?
About 2 million pieces of paper a month come through the doors of GBS Computer Systems' facility on North Meridian Road.
That's where they're turned into digital files that can be accessed and viewed using NetFileManager, software that the North Canton-based company designs, markets and sells here.
GBS celebrated the recent opening of a new data entry and processing wing with a ribbon-cutting and an open house Tuesday morning. The extra 7,500 square feet, converted from warehouse usage, will greatly increase GBS' ability to serve its clients, company officials say.
"We would love to get to the point where we have to put up a new building," said Joseph Chahine, director of NetFileManager.
About 100 employees work at the facility, which receives documents from hospitals and health care systems, credit unions, court systems and a variety of businesses.
Saving space
Dozens of boxes of documents are brought daily into the receiving area in the new wing, where they are prepared for scanning -- staples removed, folds smoothed out. Scanners process 80 to 100 pages per minute and then the files are indexed with a name or number for easy reference using the software.
So what happens to all that paper after it's converted?
"These companies are trying to recover space, so most of the time they don't want it back," said Bill Williams, director of technical services. "If we don't send it back, we shred it and dispose of it."
GBS, which had two employees in a small office when it first came to Youngstown in 1971, has experienced a dramatic increase in business in the last several years, Chahine said.
"We had 600 percent growth in our document imaging area last year and expect 100 percent more this year," he said. "We've come a long way in a short time."