American Kardex

Kardex

Kardex Group logo, 21st century
Formerly called	Rand Ledger American Kardex Rand Kardex Bureau Remington Rand Kardex Systems
Founded	1898
Website	Kardex Group website

Kardex has been the name or part of 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 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, especially in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

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, called the Visible Ledger.

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.

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.

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.