the name of companies tracing back to rand ledger founded in 1898 which were closely associated with the development of the index card as a common business data storage device and which were also associated with the entities that eventually formed unisys . kardex group logo 21st century kardex as a company name was introduced in 1915 subsumed in 1927 it remained as a brand name and a division name and revived in 1978 . it is currently borne by the kardex group based in zurich switzerland which makes filing system components as well as many other products for handling materials and information mostly in physical form . the term kardex is also a common noun a genericized trademark particularly in the medical records field where it is synonymous with medication administration record 1 especially in ireland and the united kingdom . contents 1 separate rand led companies 1898 1925 1.1 rand ledger 1898 1925 1.2 american kardex 1915 1925 2 rand kardex bureau 1925 1927 3 remington rand 1927 1955 4 sperry rand 1955 1978 5 kardex systems 1978 2008 6 kardex group 2008 2015 7 references 8 external links separate rand led companies 1898 1925 edit main article james rand jr. rand ledger 1898 1925 edit american ledger was founded by james h. rand sr. in 1898 . rand had been a banker for many years and had come to see that existing index card systems used by clerks were inefficient . what was needed was a rationalized system using dividers file tabs and labels . rand sr. invented an improved filing system based on these concepts and founded the rand ledger company to manufacture his index system 2 3 called the visible ledger . 4 james rand jr. joined his father s company after being graduated from harvard university in 1908 and ran it from 1910 through 1914 . in 1915 the elder rand re assumed control of the company and rand jr. unable to reach agreement with his father on business matters left . american kardex 1915 1925 edit james rand jr. formed his own filing and index supply company american kardex in 1915 . within five years american kardex grew to be one of the leading office supply companies in the united states . it was roughly equal in revenues to rand ledger and the two companies easily dominated the american office supply market . in 1920 american kardex had more than 1 million in gross sales . the company s products were widely used in the health care field filling a kardex became common nomenclature for entering data into a patient s medical record and demand in europe was so strong that rand soon built a factory in germany . rand kardex bureau 1925 1927 edit as competition between american kardex and rand ledger intensified mary rand james h. rand sr. s wife and james rand jr. s mother brokered a reconciliation between father and son . in 1925 the two men agreed that american kardex should purchase rand ledger . the new company rand kardex was the largest office supply company in the united states . james rand sr. became the company chairman while james rand jr. was its president and general manager . james rand jr. soon began expanding the company through acquisitions . he bought companies including index visible safe cabinet dalton adding machine baker vawter ledger and library bureau which was probably the first company to sell filing cabinets commercially in 1900 and may have invented them . 5 6 in its brief existence the company was first known as rand kardex and then after the acquisition of library bureau as rand kardex bureau . remington rand 1927 1955 edit main article remington rand kardex visible file cabinets 20th century in 1886 e. remington and sons sold its typewriter business and the rights to the remington name to the standard typewriter manufacturing company which in 1902 changed its name to remington typewriter company . 7 in 1927 rand kardex merged with remington typewriter . the new company was called remington rand and kardex was a division and brand of that company . remington rand was led by james rand jr. for the duration of its independent existence . company sales grew from 5 million in 1927 to 500 million in 1954 although market share suffered in the face of competition from ibm . remington rand purchased the eckert mauchly computer corporation in 1950 delivered the univac i in 1951 and bought engineering research associates in 1952 all this making them a major player in the new computer industry . sperry rand 1955 1978 edit main article sperry rand in 1955 sperry corporation acquired remington rand and renamed itself sperry rand . remington rand remained as a separate brand name and in the name of some divisions . the remington rand systems division was concerned with filing systems and associated products such as file folders and other material and physical data storage and handling systems including kardex . in 1978 sperry rand decided to concentrate on the computer business and sold a number of divisions including remington rand systems . remington rand machines was also sold along with some other divisions and the company dropped rand from its title and reverted to sperry corporation ; in 1986 they merged with burroughs corporation to form unisys . kardex systems 1978 2008 edit the remington rand systems division of sperry rand now based in marietta ohio was acquired by aarque management corporation of jamestown new york and renamed to kardex systems to take advantage of kardex s status as a long famous brand in filing systems . 8 9 in 2003 the company was sold to rack enterprises and ronald miller was made president . 10 miller established a separate company randex also selling filing and storage system components for operation in europe . randex continued to exist as a separate company under miller family control after kardex systems was sold to remstar . 8 in 2008 kardex systems was acquired by remstar ag of zurich switzerland . remstar had been founded in 1977 although what is now its kardex mlog division had been established in 1922 as mehne gmbh and its american subsidiary established in 1981 in westbrook maine . kardex group 2008 2015 edit kardex remstar vertical storage carousel in use in 2009 kardex and remstar s american operation which had been established in 1981 were merged to form kardex remstar based in westbrook . at some point when remstar ag was renamed to kardex group ag . as of 2015 update kardex group consists of two divisions kardex remstar and kardex mlog mlog having been acquired in 2010 and the stow division having been spun off in 2013 . kardex remstar manufactures and sells materials handling systems for industry and file handling systems for offices . products include basic commodities such as file folders and labels as well as more complicated products such as shelving systems and cabinets vertical lifts and rack systems . 11 kardex mlog manufactures and sells automated high bay warehouses and customized materials handling systems . references edit kardex . encyclopedia.com a dictionary of nursing . highbeam research . 2008 . retrieved september 11 2014 . james henry rand dead at 81 . new york times . june 4 1968 . . better source needed ingham john n. 1983 . biographical dictionary of american business leaders . greenwood press . isbn 978 082477849 1 . . better source needed kardex systems inc. . aecinfo.com . retrieved september 11 2014 . chapter 3 get organized at home how to always find what you are looking for kindle edition . better source needed library bureau systems of vertical filing with interchangeable unit cabinets library bureau 1903 pp. 1 7 . better source needed saunders cece ; schneiderman fox faline march 2010 . documentation remington rand facility 180 johnson street middletown connecticut pdf . historical perspectives inc. p. 6 . retrieved september 11 2014 . a b about randex serving europe middle east asia and australasia . randex website . retrieved september 11 2014 . kardex . expo21xx . retrieved september 12 2014 . mh & l staff may 1 2003 . rack enterprises inc. acquires kardex systems inc. . material handling & logistics . retrieved september 11 2014 . company overview of kardex systems inc. . bloomberg businessweek . retrieved september 11 2014 . external links edit kardex group website english retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title kardex & oldid 743731256 categories 1898 establishments in new york1915 establishments in new york1978 establishments in ohiocompanies of switzerlandoffice supply companies of the united statesmaterials handlinghidden categories all articles lacking reliable referencesarticles lacking reliable references from september 2014vague or ambiguous time from march 2015articles containing potentially dated statements from 2015all articles containing potentially dated statements navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent 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