Tobyhanna Army Depot applies real-world collision repair practices to servicing military equipment

Have you ever wondered how and where the Armed Service does its equipment repairs? I knew from my time in the service that at most supply areas there was a Direct Exchange (DX) depot, where old or damaged equipment could be exchanged for not necessarily new, but often reconditioned or upgraded units. Most of the exchanged equipment on overseas bases is not repaired in country, but shipped someplace stateside for repairs.

The Tobyhanna Army Depot in Tobyhanna, Penn., is one of the Army’s body shops. The military established a presence in the Tobyhanna area as far back as 1912, when Major Charles P. Summerall established an artillery training camp there. By 1913, Congress authorized the purchase of the camp and additional land, which eventually grew as large as 23,000 acres. Some units other than artillery were stationed at the depot for short periods of time, but for the most part, it remained an artillery training depot.

By 1949, despite local efforts, the government moved ahead with its plan to abandon the site. The land was transferred to the Commonwealth for recreational purposes and the Tobyhanna State Park was established. When the US Signal Corps lost its depot in Baltimore, it re-acquired 1,400 acres of the former Tobyhanna army reservation to develop a $35 million supply depot. By February 1953, the Tobyhanna Signal Depot was officially established.

Today, the depot is a C4ISR facility, which stands for Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance. Tobyhanna configures shelters, or assets, which contain the equipment for modern electronic warfare. Because of the sensitive aspects at many of the areas of the depot, security was tight when I visited the depot, guided by Retired Airforce Servicewoman Jacqueline Boucher and Mike Romonczuk, body shop manager and a civilian, but a Vietnam Veteran.

I was interested to see how the technicians repaired, repurposed and reconditioned military equipment and how similar its shop procedures were to those of the collision repair industry. I was granted permission to visit the area of the facility that took care of the enclosures for signal equipment. That equipment has not changed much — on the outside — since I used it during my service in 1968 and 1970 (Fig 1). However, over the last 40 years, the interiors have had to be reconfigured several times, as the signal and listening equipment has changed. These enclosures are constructed with aluminum support beams inside and outer and inner aluminum sheets. They can be placed on a wheeled trailer (Fig 2) or on vehicles for quick deployment. They can also be configured to meet the particular mission’s need, and may be deployed as single units operating individually or configured in multiple units as the mission requires.

The facility is a state of the art, efficiently run unit using all the same business principles used in a modern body shop. I saw such concepts as just on time supply, ISO quality and through-put tracking. They blueprinted each job and tracked it as it passed through the repair plan. There were task-specific toolboxes; areas that repaired different phases of each job; and downdraft paint booths, which were heat and humidity controlled. The booths were similar to those used in our industry, but bigger — 30 feet tall and just as wide, and what I would estimate as 60 feet long. Some of the equipment painted in these booths is so large that there are "man-lifts" (Fig 3) in them to help the technicians position themselves for painting.

There is a high regard for safety in the shop. Every employee had the appropriate safety equipment, sanders with respirators, steel toe shoes, gloves, hat, paint suit, safety glasses. Also in use when needed were hard hats and harnesses and safety lines for anyone working more than three or four feet off the ground (Fig. 4). Before I was allowed on the work floor, I was issued hard toes for my shoes and safety glasses. The facility is also remarkably quiet with sound baffling in the ceiling to protect the workers’ hearing.

Reconditioning
When assets are brought into the facility, it is stripped of the equipment inside and the enclosure is sent to the body shop. A technician inspects the piece for damage and makes a repair plan. Some of these assets need to have the outer skin and insulating removed where the internal structure will be inspected for damage and replaced or repaired (Fig 5). Though there is a stamping and cutting area outside the paint shop that makes replacements parts for these assets, the shop itself has a full complement of steel-cutting shears, breaks and other forming equipment on hand for the technicians to use as needed (Fig 6).

Some parts will only need stripping and refinishing. Though no chemical stripper was used, there were two media blasting booths (the same size as the spray booths) for that purpose. For sensitive equipment, a laser stripper (Fig 7) is available. It is capable of vaporizing paint from metal surfaces quickly and with no dust or debris remaining. The smoke that is generated from the machine is vacuumed away and the vapors cleared.

When the asset is stripped and repairs have been completed, it is sent to the prep/masking area (Fig 8). Here the asset gets an epoxy sealer and is then painted. The film thickness requirement is strictly monitored; it is tested to assure quality at each step, sealer and paint.

Through-put is also closely monitored. A flow chart shows the repair process for each asset, which is also marked with a colored tag — red (behind schedule), orange (late) or green (on time).

Work stations
Each work station is designed and set up to accomplish specific tasks (Fig 9), with the needed tools and equipment and supply carts. Workers follow Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for each task. SOPs ensure each job is done exactly as specified for that procedure, and quality control can be closely monitored. Each asset is tested before being shipped back to duty.

The needed supplies to stock the work stations are centrally located. Air, vacuum and electricity are conveniently located on moveable tracks. Ergometric placement of tools and equipment optimizes ease of use and allows all surfaces to be accessed (Fig 10).

 Masking stations and paint stations promote the highest quality and efficiency. The paint area features a digitally automated paint mixing and reducing computer that feeds a pressure spray system for the painter.

Testing
Though quality control is integrated into every step of the repair process at Tobyhanna, assets are tested before being cleared following repair. One such test monitors pressure, where a testing machine is hooked up to the shelter and a prescribed amount of air is pumped into it. If the pressure drops over time, a leak is present and must be located.

In the paint department, paint film thickness is monitored, along with strict standards for gloss (low outside, for the camouflage, and high inside), texture and flow. To meet the SOP standard and tassure the component’s configuration before it is put inside, the shelter is tested for water leaks in a large water test bay (Fig 11). Water pressures from a gentle rain to monsoon storm conditions can be simulated.

Tobyhanna Army Depot is a large facility providing support to all the armed services for electronic equipment. While I only detailed the shelters that they provide for the varied electronic equipment (used today in battle, surveillance and security worldwide), I came away with a renewed assurance that our troops are well supported in their mission of keeping our country safe. 

Thank you to the armed services personnel and civilian employees at Tobyhanna for their service, and thank you for letting me share this glimpse into what you do.

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