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.