David Stoutamire has just one message he wants to get across: “We put 10 lbs. into a 5-lb. bag, and leave you 5 to grow on. Then we label it so you can always find it and never lose it.” That’s the basis for his business, Advanced Filing Systems, and that actually sums it up quite well.

But don’t let the name fool you. A lot more than just “filing” is involved. If you’re picturing a standard three- or four-drawer filing cabinet that simply holds letter- or legal-sized file folders, think again.

“We’re a filing and storage systems company with the ability to set up medical practices from the front door to the back door,” said Stoutamire, Vice President of Sales. “We do this by using high-density storage systems, rolling files, rotary files, which are like a lazy Susan in a box, and the vertical lift machines – called Lektrievers – which are like a Ferris Wheel inside a box. And all of these devices are designed to get 10 lbs. in a 5-lb. bag, with room to spare for future growth.”

And not only do these files hold letters and documents, but, for pharmacy clients, for example, they can store medicines and pharmaceuticals as well, safely and securely.

Stoutamire explained the process when a potential client inquires about the company’s service. “We respond very quickly. We’ll have a rep on site within the next day or two,” he said. “We’ll get back to them within a week, and once we’ve decided on the best course of action, we design a system with the objective of increasing their capacity and making them HIPAA compliant. It can be installed anywhere from two weeks to six weeks.”

But the idea behind Advanced Filing Systems is more than storing documents or goods – it’s also the ability to locate them. Stoutamire said color-coded labels enable users to do that. “Did you ever notice that if you look down the shelf in a library, the spines of the books all have a band of color and they line up pretty well. If you took one of the books out and put it back in upside down, that line would be broken. We use the same principal here. The human eye follows banners of color, and this system eliminates misfiles and speeds up file retrieval.” Stoutamire said the labels can be printed on any color printer.

An additional feature is a bar code that is a part of each file. “It’s our latest technology – RFID, which stands for Radio Frequency Identification,” he said. Stoutamire likened it to the toll booth technology on the turnpike, where you drive through the gate and a scanner tracks your car and deducts the amount of your toll from your account. Unlike in a grocery store, where the scanner has to be placed nearly on top of the bar code to work, the one on the turnpike sits high above the road.

Similarly, the RFID used by Advanced Filing Systems can be used to locate files. “If you put this RFID on the file, you can track it all around the building. Now you’ve got 10 lbs. in a 5-lb. bag, and you can find it in half the time and never lose it,” Stoutamire said.

Advanced Filings Systems can do all of this quickly and efficiently because of the company’s experience. “We’re a 20-year-old company and we just acquired a 35-year-old company, so we have 55 years of combined experience,” Stoutamire said, explaining the reason for the acquisition: “We both had the same product line and utilized the same manufacturers, but we concentrated on different segments of the market. Our market segment is health care, and they were strong in government and commercial customers, so by putting the two companies together we were able to cut down on the redundancies of staff and overhead and space, and provide the same solutions to all of our clients.”

Stoutamire said the company has more than 400 clients, ranging from giants such as Baptist Health Systems and Broward Health and National Cancer Centers, down to single-doctor practices. And all of them were looking to put 10 lbs. in a 5-lb. bag, plus have room for future growth.