Formerly part of Bell Labs located in Columbus, Ohio

AT&T Works made expensive telecom switching equipment, cellular equipment, and performed  product research and development.

 

Plant shutdown: Alcatel Lucent plant closure

 

As part of a wind down or elimination of equipment not necessary for ongoing operations, the auction was held in 2006. I’d never heard of the auctioneer before…however, in the realm of salvage that’s not always a bad thing.  An unknown or unpopular auctioneer is unlikely to draw a large crowd, therefore lowering competition and prices.  At one auction, I brought 10 grand and left with an entire semi-trailer load of merchandise. Two full-time eBay sellers and myself spent almost a year to sort, list and fulfill the consequent orders. The return was about $85,000 on the $10’000 investment.  (Of course there are overheads: storage and warehousing space, climate controlled with office space and shipping area, etc.)

We scrapped out a lot of aluminium assembly lines and outdated circuit-board fab conveyors, the greatest prize was the tool storage rooms full of test and support gear.

 

Images of  sold items-