Army depot employees save $90 million
By Anthony Ricchiazzi
September 28, 2005
TOBYHANNA ARMY DEPOT, Pa. (Army News Service, Sept. 28, 2005)-- Stripping parts from recently retired communications systems is enabling the depot to support a similar system without having to buy new components.
Depot personnel are removing serviceable components from the AN/TTC-39A (v) 4 and 39D Telephone Circuit Switches, which entered service in 1984, to support the AN/TTC-46 and 47 Mobile Subscriber Equipment.
Technicians maintained and upgraded the TTC-39s, which provides the same service as a telephone company. The system connects and routes telephones, cell phones, data and e-mail worldwide.
Technicians currently maintain the TTC-46 and 47, which provides the same service as the TTC-39, only it fits onto a Humvee rather than a 2-1/2 ton truck. Voice, data and facsimile traffic can be routed through the MSE system, which acts as an operations and switching center. However, they were running out of parts.
“The inventory of components for the TTC-46 and 47 was getting depleted, but the systems are due to be retired in three to five years, and it would have been very expensive to retool to fabricate more,” said James Thomas (a resident of Nanticoke), lead electronics technician, Communications Systems Directorate. “It would have taken one to two years to retool and cost two or three times the original components.”
For example, there are 4,000 circuit cards in each switch. They cost from $500 to $10,000 each. The power supplies are $4,000 each. Other components include the cable input panels, said Gerald Oliver (a resident of Shavertown), electronics technician.
Thomas worked with Ernest McFarlen, the system’s major item manager at the Switching System Branch, Communication Directorate Logistics Readiness Center, Fort Monmouth, N.J.; and Robert Moore (a resident of Gouldsboro), logistics management specialist, Resource Management Directorate, to develop a solution.
“We realized that the components we needed were also used in the TTC-39s, and it was decided to strip those systems, test the components to make sure they functioned properly and place them in stock for use when they are needed,” Thomas said. “It’s worked out great over the last four years. We’ve recovered more than $90 million worth of components.”
“The ones being turned in from Southwest Asia were in constant use. They are very dirty and full of sand, so they need extra cleaning,” Oliver said. “We clean the components, refurbish them and test them, but do not repair them. It’s more time consuming than similar work done for other systems because of the sand and dirt, but we have no trouble preparing them for use in the MSE systems.”
The shelters are stripped in about a week; testing and processing takes about two weeks. Once the components are certified ready, they are placed in stock and shipped when needed.
Oliver said the stripped shelters are turned over to the Property Disposal Office for recycling.
Thomas said most of their orders come from Southwest Asia and they expect the project to end in another year after refurbishing $120 million to $130 million worth of components.
Tobyhanna Army Depot is the Defense Department’s largest center for the repair, overhaul and fabrication of a wide variety of electronics systems and components, from tactical field radios to the ground terminals for the defense satellite communications network. Tobyhanna’s missions support all branches of the Armed Forces.
About 4,400 personnel are employed at Tobyhanna, which is located in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania.
Tobyhanna Army Depot is part of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Life Cycle Management Command (C-E LCMC). Headquartered at Fort Monmouth, N.J., C-E LCMC’s mission is to research, develop, acquire, field and sustain communications, command, control computer, intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors capabilities for the Armed Forces.
(Editor’s note: Anthony Ricchiazzi is Public Affairs Specialist with the Tobyhanna Army Depot.)
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