About Us

The typewriter was king and Bob Gedig has the carbon scars to prove it. Hired by Harry Groene, Bob Gedig delivered for Kee Lox by bicycle, supplying carbon paper and typewriter ribbons to eager customers all over Indianapolis. Carbon paper and typewriter ribbons were “cash crops” to Kee Lox at that time. In those days before the computer, Bob Gedig, then 17, logged hundreds of miles delivering carbon paper “custom cut” from large reams according to customer specifications. At the end of the workday, Harry Groene helped the young Gedig secure his bike to the elevator shaft. Another day complete, Gedig took the suburban back to his southside home, carbon covered and shop-worn, in anticpation of the next day’s runs.

By the end of the 1980’s, Cannon IV’s gamble on computer technology had shown tremendous foresight. Once dependent on servicing the typewriter and manual check printer, Cannon IV’s potential lay wide open with the computer. Just as the computer made typewriters a relic from another era, laser printers came to revolutionize check processing. In the mid-1990’s, MICR technology changed the way American businesses print checks, allowing safe and efficient printing from the desktop. In 1996, Cannon IV aligned with Troy Products to become one of three distributors of MICR toner products for check printing. Today, American businesses print billions of checks daily using MICR technology via the laser printer.

Harry Groene’s happiness in life came from the happiness of those around him. It was a trait that served him well as a husband, a father and a businessman. It undoubtedly served his customers well at Kee Lox. Harry Groene came to Indianapolis with Kee Lox in 1918, where he and his wife Elise raised three daughters — Dorothy, Rosemary and Betty Ann.

At age 21, he was already one of the company’s most successful salesmen. Charged with developing a branch office in Indianapolis, Groene built one of the company’s most successful, utilizing a small arsenal that included only himself, a secretary and Bob Gedig in charge of delivery. Harry Groene died in 1945 at the age of 47. The business was passed to his brother, Stanley Groene, who died three years later at the same age, 47.

When Harry Groene sealed his first few sales making cold calls to Indianapolis companies, he couldn’t have fathomed the future of communication. From phone to fax, to modem, to cell phone, to e-mail, today’s customers have more options than ever before. In the early-1990’s, Cannon IV began to exercise those options, offering customized service based on customer wants and needs. Today, Cannon IV customers order by phone, fax, e-mail, or via the company web site, where buyers from each client company access a customized screen and an individualized order history that helps them reorder favorite products. The fact that Cannon IV continues to earn the trust of its very first customer serves as the greatest testament to its success. Hundreds of management books have been written to decode the secret of customer loyalty, but Cannon IV has found the secret in human relations. Science, may bring measurable results, but passion brings results beyond measure.

Bernie Minton’s charismatic presence has energized countless gatherings. It is our hope that gatherings here at Cannon IV will be richer with his presence. Bernie Minton enlisted in the Navy on Pearl Harbor Day. In 1945, at the close of World War II, he married Dorothy Groene and came to work for Kee Lox at $28 a week. Upon the death of Stanley Groene in 1948, he took over management of the Indianapolis operation. Successful in Indianapolis, Bernie was offered a new challenge by Kee Lox in 1954 – to turn around an underperforming Chicago office. Bernie did just that; under his direction, the poorest selling branch of Kee Lox became the sales leader.

There is an event in the life of every successful business that marks its arrival in the big leagues. That event came in 1989 when IBM named Cannon IV Dealer of the Year. The recognition capped a groundbreaking decade and catapulted the company to a new level of acceptance in the industry. Cannon IV’s reputation was soon confirmed in the eyes of other manufacturers. HP named Cannon IV as one of the “fastest-growing authorized HP supplies dealers in the country” in 1995, the same year that Lexmark named Cannon IV its INTEC Dealer of the Year. Cannon IV has since been honored by nearly every major manufacturer in the industry for its sales and marketing performance. Success has come from collaboration, by developing relationships with manufacturers in the same way it has developed relationships with employees and customers.

Recognition of the computer as a major technological force accounted for considerable growth for Cannon IV in the 1980’s. Investment in computer supplies over office supplies, its core products at the time, represented a new risk that was lessened only by the partnerships Cannon IV made in an effort to service the new technology. In 1986, Cannon IV achieved a major victory in sealing a sales contract with IBM. Authorized dealer contracts followed with Hewlett-Packard in 1987 and Lexmark in 1990. Cannon IV’s evolution from an office supplies dealer to a company heavily banking on new computer technology can be traced in its contracts with Hewlett-Packard. The initial contract with Hewlett-Packard in 1987 focused on the sale of calculators. Cannon IV exceeded sales goals with calculators, but more significantly, outpaced competitors in the sale of computer supplies. A new contract was inked in 1990 to reflect Cannon IV’s upgraded status with Hewlett-Packard.

No company has had more significant impact on driving Cannon IV than Hewlett-Packard. Cannon IV has grown with Hewlett-Packard, selling the company’s calculators in the 1960’s and its earliest printers in the 1970’s. Today, everyday, truckloads of HP product leave the Cannon IV warehouse for delivery to clients nationwide. The HP-Cannon IV partnership has been loyal — and reciprocal. As a trusted reseller, Cannon IV has been called upon by HP often — to test market programs, model information technologies, or lead the launch of a new product – and has always responded with success. Cannon IV is an original member of the HP Dealer Advisory Council. Cannon IV is now one of HP’s largest independent dealers. Besides the common origins of the two companies – humble beginnings in a neighborhood garage – Cannon IV and HP share philosophical values that make them natural allies – a commitment to excellence, superior service, innovation, and a satisfied customer.