The Army is ensuring commanders can communicate with military partners anytime, anywhere by enlisting Team Tobyhanna capabilities in the refresh of hardware procurement and installation processes at select Home Station Mission Command Center (HSMCC) sites. The sites are managed by the Army's Program Executive Office -- Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS).
Depot electricians and electronics technicians, as part of the EIS Installation Information Infrastructure Modernization Program (I3MP), will be setting up shop a little closer to home for their next mission. They are scheduled to modernize the Pennsylvania Army National Guard's 28th Infantry Division command center later this year. It will be the fourth such mission for Tobyhanna after modernizing command centers for the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado, and the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
"Employees perform a total refresh of audio visual and video teleconference equipment at each location," said Michael Weiss, logistics management specialist. "The lessons learned during each job are opportunities to implement initiatives that streamline processes, which help us meet or exceed customer requirements." Weiss works in the Production Management Directorate's Integration and Remanufacturing Project Management Branch.
For example, the upcoming mission's equipment will be ordered by and delivered to the depot eliminating non-value added steps. Team members will stage and build equipment here to speed up the on-site installation process, according to Weiss.
"Performing work on the depot saves temporary duty costs and reduces Tobyhanna's footprint at the site," said Electronics Engineer Chase Gardner, who works in the Production Engineering Directorate's SATCOM and Site Installation Division. "We can build and wire the racks, plus inventory and organize all the equipment here for faster installation there."
Cabinets for the Fort Bragg project were built here and transported to work site, according to Robert Olshefski. The Systems Integration and Support Directorate's Electrical Cable Branch chief said "it's service like this that instills confidence in the customer."
Each HSMCC project is a custom job, designed around an existing joint command center networked with five conference rooms. The core team consists of five technicians and will flex up or down to keep on schedule, according to Olshefski.
One electronics worker says he gets a lot of satisfaction from the job he does to support the warfighter.
"This is something I enjoy doing," Edward Milot said. "I get to apply my Air Force training and college education to produce quality work that I can be proud of." Milot populates and wires rack-mounted communication equipment during the HSMCC modernization process. By maintaining an orderly and logical methodology when wiring the vast amount of equipment in each rack, then finally wiring the room to the rack, the customer is rewarded with a superior product, he said.
The HSMCC Initiative is the Army's evolutionary approach to providing corps, divisions and select theater-level commands with the capability to host and operate mission command systems from home station. The joint efforts of Tobyhanna Army Depot, U.S. Army Information Systems Engineering Command (USAISEC), U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command and industry partners General Dynamics Information Technology contribute to the modernization project.
"There's a synergy between all the players," Olshefski said. "Communication is key to our success and everyone is committed to making sure the customer gets what they need to perform their mission."
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