High Temp Metals runs a highly automated office. Using OS/2 instead of Microsoft Windows allows many programs to be in active use at the same time without compromising stability or performance. A typical sales station has windows open for Inventory (at least two views in separate windows), customer database, AR history, job card database, desktop fax, label printer, spreadsheet and word processor.

Recent addition of a job card printing and database program (custom developed by Automation Access) has removed the last major task that was still done by hand.

In the server room are the OS/2 Warp Server (the main data and backup server), and a Linux server which is currently serving printers, but which will eventually have additional duties. The fax and e-mail server is out in the office because it is also used as a workstation for maintaining the company's Web Site.

Two high speed DataSouth Documax printers do invoice and report printing, while a Lexmark is devoted to printing job cards on heavy stock. There are also 4 laser printers and an ancient Okidata 82 devoted to printing D&B credit reports.

A business like High Temp Metals makes very heavy use of telephone connections, so High Temp has a T1 line which delivers 24 voice fax and modem channels at a lower cost than separate phone lines. Shown here is the T1 channel bank (the big flat thing with the blink'n lights) and associated termination equipment. The T1 equipment was provided and installed by Automation Access. All cable was pulled by the client to our specification and terminated by us.

High Temp has 4 incoming fax machines on rotation, but most outgoing fax traffic is sent directly from the computer screen without being printed on paper - and nobody has to get up and walk to a fax machine. All these faxes go out through a single OS/2 fax server and single phone line regardless which workstation originated them.

High Temp also does their own fax broadcasting, sending out 1-page flyers listing new arrivals and other information of interest to their customers. Broadcasting runs automatically at night. They use PMFax for OS/2, which is at least twice as fast as FaxWorks Pro for Windows.

Inventory is the name of the game, and High Temp Metals has plenty of it: sheet, plate, bar, ring, billet and coil. Inventory valuation is very high because these metals sell at high prices, commonly over $10 per pound.

The inventory program used by High Temp Metals was custom written by Automation Access. This inventory files by alloy, shape, size and heat number, eliminating the need for separate part numbers for every variation of the materials. It also allows extremely fast callup of all possible matches at the sales desk, including inexact matches where desired. This allows sales people to provide customer response times unmatched in the industry, even by much larger companies.

High Temp Metals has a large selection of shears, saws, plasma cutters and other equipment needed to cut size and prepare materials for shipment to all parts of the world. Shown here are a couple of plate shears able to shear metal up to an inch thick.