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

Tobyhanna has developed a forward repair activity for systems and office equipment that allows office equipment (i.e., computers, printers, accessories) to be repaired in-theater, eliminating the long downtime that results when equipment would otherwise have to be returned to depot for repair.

Forward repair activities (FRAs) for Standard Army Management Information Systems, Common Ground Stations, Tactical Operation Centers, Army Airborne Command and Control Systems, and office equipment (i.e., computers, printers and accessories) did not exist for the U.S. Army prior to 1994. Field returns were typically shipped to the depot and/or vendor for repair and return to the customer, resulting in lengthy repair lead-times and excessive costs to ship repaired items back to the customer.

Tobyhanna Army Depot (TYAD) established an organization to support these pieces of office equipment either at the garrisons or in-theater. This support allowed for the elimination of the costly shipping charges of the whole unit and quick turnaround of repairs from the FRAs. The repairs are done with a “float” stock initially pushed by the office equipments’ original equipment manufacturer. Tobyhanna currently has 100 civilians stationed at garrisons around the country and 43 civilians deployed in-theater. The FRA-developed infrastructure supports worldwide maintenance. It is easily expandable to accommodate new workloads, with a complete capability to “reach back” to the depot for complete support.

TYAD has been certified as the warranty repair center for Dell, Itronix, Micron, Hewlett-Packard, and Panasonic, allowing rapid turnaround and eliminating lengthy downtime of office equipment

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