Interstate Cold Storage relies on DocuXplorer as the backbone of its record‑keeping across more than 20 related companies, helping teams retrieve critical information in minutes, stay audit‑ready, and protect highly sensitive data without adding complexity or cost.
Interstate Cold Storage is part of a multi‑company, family‑owned group that spans cold storage, manufacturing, logistics, and related businesses—more than 20 entities under one family umbrella. As the organization has grown from its founding in 1973, so has the volume and diversity of documents: invoices, purchase orders, CAD drawings, vehicle and asset records, HR files, tax records, credit card receipts, and personal information.
IT Manager Michael Ruf has been with the company for 17 years and has overseen the system as an administrator. When he joined, the company had already committed to digitization, inspired by the previous generation’s experience winning a legal battle with a major fast‑food chain after systematically scanning and organizing every legal document. That experience cemented a philosophy: scan everything, eliminate paper, and make information instantly searchable.
This mindset led the family to standardize on DocuXplorer more than 20 years ago and keep it at the center of operations as the business scaled.
“Everything is in DocuXplorer. We had a basement where there were just boxes and boxes of files. We took those boxes and scanned them in. The system's been so reliable that we could trust it and throw the files away.”
"The system's been so reliable that we could trust it and throw the files away."
DocuXplorer serves as the central document hub for virtually every department and business entity in the company, from operations and manufacturing to accounting, finance, facilities, and asset management. “It’s critical. It is probably the second most important server we run here.”
Even IT depends on DocuXplorer. Michael doesn’t scan documents himself, but he uses it constantly to locate records and manage access.
“Pretty much everybody uses it—operations, accounting, sales documents, drawings. Our HVAC guys use it. We keep track of our cars.”
One of the main reasons adoption has held strong for over two decades is DocuXplorer’s familiar, File‑Explorer‑style interface with cabinets, drawers, and folders. That design makes it straightforward to mirror real‑world filing logic without a steep learning curve.
"It’s so easy to navigate, and it's easy to keep organized because everybody gets it. Very little training is needed."
The team also leans heavily on DocuXplorer’s ability to copy and re‑use folder structures—a small feature with big impact at their scale.
“The coolest feature is the copy and paste folder structure. Because a lot of stuff we do by year, [for example] Billing 2017, and it's got 100 folders underneath it. So every year I do probably 100 different ones, and everything’s laid out for the next year.”
Across entities and departments, DocuXplorer has made retrieval seamless.
Administrative staff scan and index credit card receipts, invoices, and other paperwork as it comes in. Customized index sets let users find documents by key metadata, like serial numbers.
Users don’t need to ask colleagues or dig through shared drives; they go straight to DocuXplorer. Records that are years old can be accessed and pulled up instantly.
Although Interstate Cold Storage isn’t using DocuXplorer’s AI automation tools, they still manage sophisticated document lifecycles through structure and indexing.
An example: building walk‑in freezers for their Polar King company.
This indexing approach lets them achieve a workflow‑like outcome, where complete document processes are tied to a specific asset, without needing to send documents back and forth.
Because DocuXplorer stores everything from Social Security numbers to credit card receipts and personal family documents, security and reliability are non‑negotiable.
Granular permissions allow Michael to control who can view, edit, or delete content at cabinet, drawer, folder, or document level. Additionally, only administrators can access the Recycle Bin, ensuring that accidental deletions can be recovered and that end users cannot empty the bin.
Even though Interstate Cold Storage runs DocuXplorer on‑premises, they benefit from the same underlying compliance‑friendly architecture that supports SOX, FINRA, GDPR, and other frameworks.
The company’s decision to entrust every record to DocuXplorer has always been underpinned by its reliability and backup service.
Although Michael notes that restoring from backups could be smoother in some scenarios, there has been no data loss, and DocuXplorer’s support team is always on hand to help.
By digitizing and efficiently structuring their records, Interstate Cold Storage has dramatically reduced the effort required to prepare for audits. They digitally copy files and folders and route them for auditors to access, rather than having to dig, manually compile, and copy records. “Everything is here, easy to access, and safe.”
Michael contrasts this with the physical file reality many businesses still face:
“[As an auditor], would you prefer a stack of receipts that are all torn up and dirty—some are pictures, some are text messages—versus a one‑page PDF with every scanned‑in receipt itemized and checked off? We miss nothing, and we're talking a minute versus hours.”
This experience aligns with what other DocuXplorer clients report: audit preparation that once took days or even weeks can now be completed in just minutes with a smart storage-and-retrieval system.
"[As an auditor], would you prefer a stack of receipts that are all torn up and dirty—some are pictures, some are text messages—versus a one‑page PDF with every scanned‑in receipt itemized and checked off? We miss nothing, and we're talking a minute versus hours.”
Interstate Cold Storage opts to run DocuXplorer locally rather than in the cloud, helping them balance cost control with security and performance.
Licensing and infrastructure costs remain low relative to the volume and diversity of documents stored. Network‑based installation means upgrades are simple: Michael updates the server, and client installations follow, without visiting every individual workstation.
DocuXplorer supports both cloud and on‑premises deployments, but for Interstate Cold Storage, the local model matches their established IT strategy while still allowing remote warehouses to scan directly into the system via Remote Scan (Quest) over RDP.
Perhaps the strongest endorsement comes from Michael’s relationship with DocuXplorer’s CEO and lead technologist, Ron Wyman.
His feedback on helpful features has influenced product changes, even down to details like scan button design and behavior.
This tight loop between user needs and product evolution supports DocuXplorer’s positioning as a platform that adapts to each client’s real‑world workflows, rather than forcing them into rigid, generic patterns.
For Interstate Cold Storage and its companies, DocuXplorer isn’t just a storage repository. It’s a central nervous system for documents that has quietly powered two decades of growth, audits, and day‑to‑day operations with speed, security, and reliability.
