<Page>



     As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 29, 2001
                                                       Registration No._________

                UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM S-8

                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                      UNDER
                           THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                                Tab Products Co.
             ------------------------------------------------------
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)


            Delaware                                      94-1190862
----------------------------------          ------------------------------------
  (State or other jurisdiction              (I.R.S. employer identification no.)
of incorporation or organization)

                         935 Lakeview Parkway, Suite 195
                           Vernon Hills, IL 60061-1442
               --------------------------------------------------
               (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

               Individual Non-qualified Stock Option Agreement and
                       2001 Nonstatutory Stock Option Plan
               ---------------------------------------------------
                            (Full title of the plan)

                                 Donald J. Hotz
              Vice-President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
                                Tab Products Co.
                         935 Lakeview Parkway, Suite 195
                           Vernon Hills, IL 60061-1442
              -----------------------------------------------------
                     (Name and address of agent for service)

Telephone number, including area code, of agent for service: 847-968-5400.

This registration statement shall hereafter become effective in accordance with
Rule 462 promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

<Table>
<Caption>

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                             CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Title of                                    Proposed maximum        Proposed maximum
       Securities             Amount to be           offering price         aggregate offering         Amount of
    to be registered          registered(1)           per share(2)               price(2)           registration fee
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<S>                           <C>                   <C>                    <C>                      <C>
INDIVIDUAL NON-QUALIFIED STOCK OPTION AGREEMENT

Common Stock                     250,000                 $2.125                $531,250.00             $132.81
Par Value $.01

2001 NONSTATUTORY STOCK OPTION PLAN

Common Stock                     208,000                 $4.275                $889,200.00             $222.30
Par Value $.01

TOTALS                           458,000                                     $1,420,450.00             $355.11
</Table>

-------------------
(1) In addition, pursuant to Rule 416(c) under the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, this registration statement also covers any additional securities that
may be offered or issued in connection with any stock split, stock dividend, or
similar transaction.

(2) Estimated pursuant to Rule 457 solely for purposes of calculating the
registration fee. The $2.125 price is based upon the Tab Products Co.
Non-qualified Stock Option Agreement with Gary W. Ampulski. As to shares under
the 2001 Nonstatutory Stock Option Plan, the price is based upon the average of
the high and low prices of the Common Stock on August 27, 2001, as reported on
the American Stock Exchange.



<Page>


                                     PART II

               INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 3.   INCORPORATION OF DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE

          Tab Products Co. (the "Company") hereby incorporates by reference in
this registration statement the following documents:

          (a)  The Company's latest annual report on Form 10-K filed pursuant to
Sections 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the
"Exchange Act"), containing audited financial statements for the Company's
fiscal year ended May 31, 2001, as filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission on August 28, 2001.

          (b)  All other reports filed pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the
Exchange Act since the end of the fiscal year covered by the registrant document
referred to in (a) above.

          (c)  The description of the Company's Common Stock contained in the
Company's Registration Statement on Form 8-A12B filed on November 25, 1996 under
the Exchange Act, including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of
updating such description.

          All documents subsequently filed by the Company pursuant to Sections
13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, prior to the filing of a
post-effective amendment to this registration statement which indicates that all
securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities
remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this
registration statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such
documents.

Item 4.   DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES

          The class of securities to be offered is registered under Section 12
of the Exchange Act.

Item 5.   INTERESTS OF NAMED EXPERTS AND COUNSEL

          Inapplicable.

Item 6.   INDEMNIFICATION OF DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS

          Delaware law authorizes corporations to eliminate the personal
liability of directors to corporations and their stockholders for monetary
damages for breach or alleged breach of the directors' "duty of care." While the
relevant statute does not change directors' duty of care, it enables
corporations to limit available relief to equitable remedies such as injunction
or rescission. The statute has no effect on directors' duty of loyalty, acts or
omissions not in good faith or involving intentional misconduct or knowing
violations of law, illegal payment of dividends and approval of any transaction
from which a director derives an improper personal benefit.



<Page>


          The Company has adopted provisions in its Certificate of Incorporation
which eliminate the personal liability of its directors to the Company and its
stockholders for monetary damages for breach or alleged breach of their duty of
care. The Bylaws of the Company provide for indemnification of its directors,
officers, employees and agents to the full extent permitted by the General
Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, the Company's state of incorporation,
including those circumstances in which indemnification would otherwise be
discretionary under Delaware Law. Section 145 of the General Corporation Law of
the State of Delaware provides for indemnification in terms sufficiently broad
to indemnify such individuals, under certain circumstances, for liabilities
(including reimbursement of expenses incurred) arising under the Securities Act.

Item 7.   EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION CLAIMED

          Inapplicable.

Item 8.   EXHIBITS

          See Exhibit Index.

Item 9.   UNDERTAKINGS

          The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:

          (1)  To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being
made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:

               (i)   To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of
the Securities Act;

               (ii)  To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising
after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent
post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate,
represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration
statement; and

               (iii) To include any material information with respect to the
plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or
any material change to such information in the registration statement; PROVIDED,
HOWEVER, that paragraphs (1)(i) and (l)(ii) do not apply if the information
required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is
contained in periodic reports filed by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or
Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the
registration statement.

          (2)  That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the
Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new
registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.


<Page>


          (3)  To remove from registration by means of a post-effective
amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the
termination of the offering.

          The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of
determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the
registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the
Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan's
annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is
incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a
new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

          Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the
Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons
of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the
registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange
Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the
Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for
indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the
registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling
person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or
proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in
connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in
the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent,
submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such
indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities
Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.



<Page>


                                    SIGNATURE

          Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that
it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this
registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto
duly authorized, in the City of Vernon Hills, State of Illinois, on August 28,
2001.


                                 TAB PRODUCTS CO.

                                 By: /s/ Donald J. Hotz
                                     -------------------------------------------
                                     Donald J. Hotz
                                     Vice-President, Chief Financial Officer and
                                     Treasurer


<Page>


                        SIGNATURES AND POWER OF ATTORNEY

          The officers and directors of Tab Products Co. whose signatures appear
below, hereby constitute and appoint Donald J. Hotz and Caroline A. Damask, and
each of them, their true and lawful attorneys and agents, with full power of
substitution, each with power to act alone, to sign and execute on behalf of the
undersigned any amendment or amendments to this registration statement on Form
S-8, and each of the undersigned does hereby ratify and confirm all that each of
said attorney and agent, or their or his substitutes, shall do or cause to be
done by virtue hereof.

          Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in
the capacities indicated on August 28, 2001.

<Table>
<Caption>

            SIGNATURE                                           Title
---------------------------------------       -----------------------------------------------------
<S>                                           <C>

     /s/ Gary Ampulski                        President and Chief Executive Officer (Principal
----------------------------------------      Executive Officer)
GARY W. AMPULSKI


     /s/ Donald J. Hotz                       Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
----------------------------------------      (Principal Financial Officer)
DONALD J. HOTZ


     /s/ Robert J. Crecca                     Corporate Controller, Chief Accounting Officer, and
----------------------------------------      Assistant Secretary (Principal Accounting Officer)
ROBERT J. CRECCA


     /s/ Hans A. Wolf                         Chairman
----------------------------------------
HANS A. WOLF


     /s/ Kathryn S. Hanson                    Director
----------------------------------------
KATHRYN S. HANSON


     /s/ Jeffrey A. Heimbuck                  Director
----------------------------------------
JEFFREY A. HEIMBUCK


                                              Director
----------------------------------------
JERRY K. MYERS
</Table>



<Page>


                                  EXHIBIT INDEX

<Table>
<S>       <C>
4.1       Certificate of Incorporation of the Company (incorporated by reference
          to Exhibit 3.1 of the Company's 1993 Form 10-K).

4.2       Second Amended and Restated Bylaws of the Company dated October 17,
          1996 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4 of the Company's Form 8-K
          dated October 17, 1996).

5         Opinion re legality

23.1      Consent of Counsel (included in Exhibit 5)

23.2      Independent Auditors' Consent

24        Power of Attorney (included in signature pages to this registration
          statement)
</Table>
[{"type": "S-8", "sequence": "1", "filename": "a2058326zs-8.txt", "description": "S-8", "secsgml_size_bytes": 14737}]
{"company-data": {"conformed-name": "TAB PRODUCTS CO", "cik": "0000096116", "assigned-sic": "7389", "irs-number": "941190862", "state-of-incorporation": "DE", "fiscal-year-end": "0531"}, "filing-values": {"form-type": "S-8", "act": "33", "file-number": "333-68600", "film-number": "1726913"}, "business-address": {"street1": "935 LAKEVIEW PARKWAY", "street2": "SUITE 195", "city": "VERNON HILLS", "state": "IL", "zip": "60061", "phone": "8479685400"}, "mail-address": {"street1": "935 LAKEVIEW PARKWAY", "street2": "SUITE 195", "city": "VERNON HILLS", "state": "IL", "zip": "60061"}}
As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 29, 2001
                                                       Registration No._________

                UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM S-8

                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                      UNDER
                           THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                                Tab Products Co.
             ------------------------------------------------------
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

            Delaware                                      94-1190862
----------------------------------          ------------------------------------
  (State or other jurisdiction              (I.R.S. employer identification no.)
of incorporation or organization)

                         935 Lakeview Parkway, Suite 195
                           Vernon Hills, IL 60061-1442
               --------------------------------------------------
               (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

               Individual Non-qualified Stock Option Agreement and
                       2001 Nonstatutory Stock Option Plan
               ---------------------------------------------------
                            (Full title of the plan)

                                 Donald J. Hotz
              Vice-President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
                                Tab Products Co.
                         935 Lakeview Parkway, Suite 195
                           Vernon Hills, IL 60061-1442
              -----------------------------------------------------
                     (Name and address of agent for service)

Telephone number, including area code, of agent for service: 847-968-5400.

This registration statement shall hereafter become effective in accordance with
Rule 462 promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                             CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Title of                                    Proposed maximum        Proposed maximum
       Securities             Amount to be           offering price         aggregate offering         Amount of
    to be registered          registered(1)           per share(2)               price(2)           registration fee
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INDIVIDUAL NON-QUALIFIED STOCK OPTION AGREEMENT

Common Stock                     250,000                 $2.125                $531,250.00             $132.81
Par Value $.01

2001 NONSTATUTORY STOCK OPTION PLAN

Common Stock                     208,000                 $4.275                $889,200.00             $222.30
Par Value $.01

TOTALS                           458,000                                     $1,420,450.00             $355.11
-------------------
(1) In addition, pursuant to Rule 416(c) under the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, this registration statement also covers any additional securities that
may be offered or issued in connection with any stock split, stock dividend, or
similar transaction.

(2) Estimated pursuant to Rule 457 solely for purposes of calculating the
registration fee. The $2.125 price is based upon the Tab Products Co.
Non-qualified Stock Option Agreement with Gary W. Ampulski. As to shares under
the 2001 Nonstatutory Stock Option Plan, the price is based upon the average of
the high and low prices of the Common Stock on August 27, 2001, as reported on
the American Stock Exchange.
PART II

               INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 3.   INCORPORATION OF DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE

          Tab Products Co. (the "Company") hereby incorporates by reference in
this registration statement the following documents:

          (a)  The Company's latest annual report on Form 10-K filed pursuant to
Sections 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the
"Exchange Act"), containing audited financial statements for the Company's
fiscal year ended May 31, 2001, as filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission on August 28, 2001.

          (b)  All other reports filed pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the
Exchange Act since the end of the fiscal year covered by the registrant document
referred to in (a) above.

          (c)  The description of the Company's Common Stock contained in the
Company's Registration Statement on Form 8-A12B filed on November 25, 1996 under
the Exchange Act, including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of
updating such description.

          All documents subsequently filed by the Company pursuant to Sections
13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, prior to the filing of a
post-effective amendment to this registration statement which indicates that all
securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities
remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this
registration statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such
documents.

Item 4.   DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES

          The class of securities to be offered is registered under Section 12
of the Exchange Act.

Item 5.   INTERESTS OF NAMED EXPERTS AND COUNSEL

          Inapplicable.

Item 6.   INDEMNIFICATION OF DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS

          Delaware law authorizes corporations to eliminate the personal
liability of directors to corporations and their stockholders for monetary
damages for breach or alleged breach of the directors' "duty of care." While the
relevant statute does not change directors' duty of care, it enables
corporations to limit available relief to equitable remedies such as injunction
or rescission. The statute has no effect on directors' duty of loyalty, acts or
omissions not in good faith or involving intentional misconduct or knowing
violations of law, illegal payment of dividends and approval of any transaction
from which a director derives an improper personal benefit.
The Company has adopted provisions in its Certificate of Incorporation
which eliminate the personal liability of its directors to the Company and its
stockholders for monetary damages for breach or alleged breach of their duty of
care. The Bylaws of the Company provide for indemnification of its directors,
officers, employees and agents to the full extent permitted by the General
Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, the Company's state of incorporation,
including those circumstances in which indemnification would otherwise be
discretionary under Delaware Law. Section 145 of the General Corporation Law of
the State of Delaware provides for indemnification in terms sufficiently broad
to indemnify such individuals, under certain circumstances, for liabilities
(including reimbursement of expenses incurred) arising under the Securities Act.

Item 7.   EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION CLAIMED

          Inapplicable.

Item 8.   EXHIBITS

          See Exhibit Index.

Item 9.   UNDERTAKINGS

          The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:

          (1)  To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being
made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:

               (i)   To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of
the Securities Act;

               (ii)  To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising
after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent
post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate,
represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration
statement; and

               (iii) To include any material information with respect to the
plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or
any material change to such information in the registration statement; PROVIDED,
HOWEVER, that paragraphs (1)(i) and (l)(ii) do not apply if the information
required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is
contained in periodic reports filed by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or
Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the
registration statement.

          (2)  That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the
Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new
registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.
(3)  To remove from registration by means of a post-effective
amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the
termination of the offering.

          The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of
determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the
registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the
Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan's
annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is
incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a
new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

          Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the
Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons
of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the
registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange
Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the
Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for
indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the
registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling
person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or
proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in
connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in
the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent,
submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such
indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities
Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.
SIGNATURE

          Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that
it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this
registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto
duly authorized, in the City of Vernon Hills, State of Illinois, on August 28,
2001.

                                 TAB PRODUCTS CO.

                                 By: /s/ Donald J. Hotz
                                     -------------------------------------------
                                     Donald J. Hotz
                                     Vice-President, Chief Financial Officer and
                                     Treasurer
SIGNATURES AND POWER OF ATTORNEY

          The officers and directors of Tab Products Co. whose signatures appear
below, hereby constitute and appoint Donald J. Hotz and Caroline A. Damask, and
each of them, their true and lawful attorneys and agents, with full power of
substitution, each with power to act alone, to sign and execute on behalf of the
undersigned any amendment or amendments to this registration statement on Form
S-8, and each of the undersigned does hereby ratify and confirm all that each of
said attorney and agent, or their or his substitutes, shall do or cause to be
done by virtue hereof.

          Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in
the capacities indicated on August 28, 2001.
SIGNATURE                                           Title
---------------------------------------       -----------------------------------------------------
/s/ Gary Ampulski                        President and Chief Executive Officer (Principal
----------------------------------------      Executive Officer)
GARY W. AMPULSKI

     /s/ Donald J. Hotz                       Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
----------------------------------------      (Principal Financial Officer)
DONALD J. HOTZ

     /s/ Robert J. Crecca                     Corporate Controller, Chief Accounting Officer, and
----------------------------------------      Assistant Secretary (Principal Accounting Officer)
ROBERT J. CRECCA

     /s/ Hans A. Wolf                         Chairman
----------------------------------------
HANS A. WOLF

     /s/ Kathryn S. Hanson                    Director
----------------------------------------
KATHRYN S. HANSON

     /s/ Jeffrey A. Heimbuck                  Director
----------------------------------------
JEFFREY A. HEIMBUCK

                                              Director
----------------------------------------
JERRY K. MYERS
EXHIBIT INDEX
4.1       Certificate of Incorporation of the Company (incorporated by reference
          to Exhibit 3.1 of the Company's 1993 Form 10-K).

4.2       Second Amended and Restated Bylaws of the Company dated October 17,
          1996 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4 of the Company's Form 8-K
          dated October 17, 1996).

5         Opinion re legality

23.1      Consent of Counsel (included in Exhibit 5)

23.2      Independent Auditors' Consent

24        Power of Attorney (included in signature pages to this registration
          statement)