“ As an integral part of Jamco America’ s business operations, the mission of our test facilities is to demonstrate industry-leading integrity as we deliver innovative and sustainable solutions for our customers,” said Wren.
Corey Nianekeo is the supervisor of test services for Jamco. He said,“ Our bread and butter is in aircraft modifications— where we gut an airplane and upgrade it to newer furniture, stow bins, bar units, seats, lavatories, and galleys.” However, they also perform significant work in premium, first-class, and business-class seating, which they’ ve done over the past eight years.
Seattle Safety’ s Director of Sales and Marketing, Matt Sikora, stated that they began providing testing for Jamco in 2010, testing at their facility in Auburn, Washington. He said that around 2015 / 2016, Jamco purchased the testing equipment from Seattle Safety, which was then relocated to Jamco’ s site. Now, Seattle Safety is a manufacturer of the test equipment, but they no longer perform testing services. Sikora said they also provide the equipment for other businesses to conduct testing as Jamco does. He added,“ Jamco has built up a nice testing lab with good equipment, all current.”
Nianekeo has a background in materials science and engineering and worked for a time in the marine industry. He has been with the company for 16 years and said,“ We do a lot of testing.” They do static testing well and extend their services to external customers who need static testing.“ Recently, we’ ve taken on dynamic testing,” which they’ ve done in-house since 2016, but now offer to external customers as well.
Wren said they have a testing facility separate from the Jamco production facility. He said this should assuage any concerns competitors may have about bringing their IP to the Jamco facility. Both Wren and Nianekeo said they sign all non-disclosure agreements with any customer bringing testing to their facility.
The 16G dynamic testing ensures that if an aircraft crashes to the ground, with 16 times the acceleration due to gravity, the permanent fixtures in the aircraft will not detach. If other suppliers make parts that the FAA requires to pass dynamic testing at 16G, they can validate the parts at Jamco’ s testing lab.
Jamco supplies both Airbus and Boeing, as well as commercial airlines. The commercial airlines hire Jamco to conduct testing on their products. The testing services date back to 1982, when Jamco America established them. The longest tenured client relationship is with Boeing, according to Nianekeo.
STATIC VS. DYNAMIC TESTING:
Static testing occurs for fixtures in a lavatory, for example. When people are in the lavatory, they need to be able to lean on the counter, toilet, or shelving up to 300 pounds during turbulence. The static testing evaluates the ability to withstand loads ranging from 3 to 9G, which are based on FAA requirements.
Dynamic testing evaluates the movement of items, such as seating, which can move or detach during a crash.
OCTOBER | NOVEMBER 2025 ISSUE NO. 47 31