From paper to metal

1960s handbill for filing cabinets

KOKUYO's 1960 announcement that it would be launching steel products caused quite a stir in the industry. In paper products ranging from account books to letter paper, forms, notebooks and many others, KOKUYO had grown to become the industry leader. The company's venture into an entirely different field came as a most unexpected development at the time. Of course, even for KOKUYO, the transition "from paper to metal" was a major challenge, but behind the development of its first steel product (filing cabinets) there lay in fact a carefully prepared business strategy. Firstly, with the expansion and growing complexity of corporate and government administration which accompanied the high economic growth of that period, there came an increasing demand for know-how (filing systems) and office supplies (paper products) from America to manage the ever-mounting pile of paperwork effectively. Some companies were already manufacturing filing cabinets in response to this trend, but there were no companies able to provide the supplies at the same time. Secondly, KOKUYO, with its established nationwide network of dedicated sales outlets, was in a strong position to provide smooth customer service for both systems and supplies. Thus KOKUYO was able to put in place its unique filing-system marketing organization which not only sold "metal boxes" but also supplied document storage technology.