• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Suggestion saves money, increases production

Dec 17, 2008
BY Anthony J. Ricchiazzi, Tobyhanna Army Depot

TOBYHANNA ARMY DEPOT, Pa. - Everyone knows that necessity is the mother of invention.

The necessity of readying radios for the warfighter sparked a suggestion that increased production and will save the taxpayer more than $235,000 per year.

Nick Lipcavage and John Nicosia realized they can repair a component of the Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System, known as SINCGARS, that was coded non-repairable. Both are electronics mechanics in the Tactical Communications Division, Communications Systems Directorate. They earned a $4,378.62 Army Ideas for Excellence Program suggestion award.

"In 2006, we received a large work order for the AN/ARC-201 airborne SINCGARS and we just started to repair the Band Pass Filter component of the radio out of the need to get product out the door rather than wait for new filters," Lipcavage said.

The ARC-201 SINCGARS is used primarily in helicopters. The components filter out unwanted frequencies and at the time cost more than $2,000 each, although Nicosia said the price has come down slightly.

They said there was a learning curve, including research to find out if parts of the component could be procured, but now they are repairing the filter regularly.

"We repair them in batches so they are ready for new workload," Lipcavage said. "Once radios come in, we swap out the filters, which saves further time."

Nicosia noted that before the repair program was initiated, they could wait two weeks or more for new filters.

"Once the filter is repaired, we test it against a new filter using a spectrum analyzer and signal generator," he said. "If the filter passes, we test it again in a mock up ARC-201 SINCGARS."

Once radios are repaired and tested, they are stored until needed.

Lipcavage and Nicosia were the only technicians working on the ARC-201 when they made the suggestion in 2007, but now they work with two technicians and a student in the Student Career Experience Program.

Tobyhanna Army Depot is the largest full-service Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance, or C4ISR, maintenance and logistics support facility in the Department of Defense. Employees repair, overhaul and fabricate 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. The depot is the Army Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence for Communications-Electronics, Avionics, and Missile Guidance and Control Systems and the Air Force Technology Repair Center for ground communications and electronics.

About 5,700 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 CECOM Life Cycle Management Command. Headquartered at Fort Monmouth, N.J., the command's mission is to research, develop, acquire, field and sustain communications, command, control, computer, intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors capabilities for the Armed Forces.