Original Date: 07/10/2006
Revision Date: / /

The goal of Tobyhanna Army Depot’s Technical Development Division is to provide technical, professional, and leadership skills for its workforce that will promote and maintain technical competency and sustain a business- focused culture to support the needs of the warfighter.

The Technical Development Division (TDD) serves as the overall program manager for training Tobyhanna Army Depot’s (TYAD’s) employees. The TDD provides four categories of training that include mandatory, mission- essential, developmental duty, and developmental nonduty training for the workforce to support mission requirements, maintain technical competency and develop skills for future technology requirements. Staff members include a training officer, training instructors, training administrators, education technicians, and administrative assistants. TYAD uses internal training instructors as well as external resources as needed to fulfill training needs.

TYAD’s Training Center offers internal electronics courses, online information technology courses, new employee training courses, and computer-based Learning Resource Center courses – all of which are conducted during duty hours. The Vendor Training Program is also conducted during duty hours and offers a wide variety of topics. The Leadership Development Program includes a diversity of government leadership programs and TYAD’s Supervisory Excellence Program, which includes online staff development courses, leadership education and development courses, and five additional courses that include Human Resources for Supervisors, Effective Briefing, Fundamentals of Business Writing, Working Capital Funds, and Diversity Workshop.

The Workforce Revitalization Programs include Mentoring, Cooperative Education, and the Apprenticeship Program that is offered internally and allows employees to gain advancement through a combination of formal classroom education and on-the-job training. For every 180 hours of education, employees are expected to give a one-year service commitment. Employees are awarded credits for courses taken that are transferable for continued degree education with local colleges. TYAD also has an excellent program for high school students who would like to work in the summer and during holidays as well as a Student Career Experience Program for students planning to work while they are pursuing an associate’s degree at a local community college.

Assessment testing is administrated to new electronics workers and electronics mechanic for evaluation of skill levels. Recommendations for training are provided to the employees and supervisors. Employees and their supervisor develop an individual development plan to enhance the employee’s skills, knowledge, and abilities. Mission supervisors identify training needs relevant to each employee’s workload requirements. Training requests are provided to TDD that strategically direct the implementation of workforce development and mission-related requirements.

A documented training needs assessment or Automated Individual Development Plan (A-IDP) must be accomplished for every employee at least once a year. The assessment should reflect only the training necessary to enhance an employee’s efficiency and productivity. Courses to be taken during duty hours must be mission-related to the directorate. Developmental non-duty training will improve employee performance but is not directly mission- related. All training needs requisite to the enhancement of current skills and those necessary for mission accomplishment are entered into the A-IDP database, which is the basis for annual training needs surveys that determine what training is necessary.

TYAD’s training programs focus on strengthening the depot’s workforce by providing the technical, professional, and leadership skills to sustain a business-focused culture. Employees will gain the technical and professional competencies for career advancement that enable TYAD to support mission requirements (i.e., the warfighter). TYAD’s management commitment to providing excellent training to its employees has bolstered employee morale and productivity, creating a positive work environment and workforce retention.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.