When it comes to privacy, organizations and individuals go to great lengths to protect sensitive information. And at the forefront of this battle against fraud and identity theft are shredders. Nevertheless, shredders are also used for other purposes and the market today provides a number of different types of shredders which make it possible to find one to match ones shredding needs.
Shredders are defined as appliances that are used for the purposes of chopping unwanted materials in the chad. Tissue papers, computer printouts, floppy and compact discs, plastics, and even wood planks are just some of the most common materials being shredded. Shredders are being use for the primary purpose of protecting sensitive and confidential information from circulating especially in a business setting. Other than these, shredders are also being used as a way to allow materials to be recycled and reused as well as for waste reduction and creation of packing material.
Shredders come in various size, price, type, and design. Generally, the types of shredders are categorized into two: the purpose for which they have been created and the size of the final shredded pieces. On the first category, the objective of the shredder, are paper shredders, cardboard shredders, cd shredders, departmental shredders, and industrial shredders. As the name suggests, paper shredders are used to cut paper pieces into bits while cardboard shredders are used to cut resources such as boxes and other hard materials for use as packaging materials. Cd shredders are used to destroy compact discs that may include sensitive data. On the other hand, departmental shredders are used in locations where shredding is done frequently, while industrial shredders are used in shredding huge volumes of materials at one time.
Shredders are also categorized depending on the size of the final shredded pieces. Included on this category are strip-cut shredders, cross-cut or confetti-cut shredders, particle-cut shredders, disintegrators, hammer mills and pierce-and-tear shredders. Strip cut shredders slice paper into long strips of a decided width while cross-cut shredders use two contra-rotating drums to make rectangular, parallelogram, or diamond-shaped shreds. Particle-cut shredders, on the other hand, cut paper into tiny pieces of square or circular shapes while disintegrators can shed materials into particles small enough to pass through a sizing screen. Hammer mills are similar to disintegrators but these machines shred materials by pounding them through a screen. Finally are pierce-and-tear shredders that use multiple rotating blades that punch holes in the material being shredded then rip the material into tiny pieces.
With the number of paper shredders now available, selecting the best one is quite challenging. So what factors should one consider in the selection of the most appropriate shredder one would have? Among the most important factors one should look after in the selection of a shredder are the two abovementioned categories of shredders-one should determine first the purpose where the shredder is to be used, then depending on this purpose, select the type of cut they would want the shredded material to have. After determining these factors, one should also verify whether to use stand-alone units, which are smaller in size and are less expensive, or integrated ones that come with built-in basket for shredder bags. Potential consumers of shredders should also consider the throat size, which refers to the shredders opening to feed the material into the shredder and capacity of the shredder. Other factors that should be considered are the various features integrated on the machines such as safety sensors, paper thickness detectors to prevent material jams, power-saving options, etc.
An increase in the demand for both personal and commercial shredders has been seen in the past years. With the rise of information technology, many different ways are also being developed in order to steal information. This fact proves the importance of being able to effectively protect our information. Thus, it is really important to find tools, specifically shredders that can effectively do this job for us.
Alexandra Sherbrooke is a marketing analyst from an advertising agency in the Philippines. Knowing the confidentiality and importance of the documents she handles, Alex makes sure that all files are properly concealed and if necessary shredded trough the use of her Geha Aktenvernichter Shredder S7 CD Comfort.