Jamco applies augmented reality to product maintenance

By Jeremy Hunter, senior sales and marketing manager, Jamco America

A partnership between Jamco America, an established commercial aircraft interior and services provider, Object Theory, an early pioneer in mixed reality, has created a new training tool for efficient maintenance service to support customer needs. The augmented reality (AR) technology developed through this partnership provides a much-needed advancement in product maintenance training for the aerospace industry.

Jamco America, a subsidiary of Jamco Corp. in Japan, was established in 1982 as a commercial aircraft interior products and services provider. Located in Everett, Washington, Jamco is considered one of the most experienced interior products suppliers and turnkey aircraft interiors integrators in the industry.

Jamco America has developed premium class seating for commercial aircraft, providing forward-facing business class seating, such as its Journey seats in 2015 and the Venture reverse herring-bone business class seat in 2019. Alongside the Venture business class seat, Jamco America is introducing AR technology to aerospace interior training and maintenance. Jamco understands that overall success goes beyond design and delivery. Current product maintenance training – although effective – relies on video tutorials, face-to-face demonstrations, and written training guides with supporting component maintenance manuals. That’s why Jamco is investing in cutting-edge AR technology to develop more efficient maintenance services for its customers.

AR superimposes a three-dimensional computer-generated image onto a user’s view of the real world. This composite view can easily guide a user through key maintenance tasks. The technology can be displayed through various hardware, from handheld tablets to the Microsoft HoloLens headset.

In 2018, Jamco America established a partnership with Object Theory, an early pioneer in mixed reality located in Portland, Oregon. Object Theory’s founders, Michael Hoffman and Raven Zachary, alumni of Microsoft and Apple, have built what Fast Company Magazine named one of the “Most Innovative AR/VR Companies.” Jamco America is very excited about this collaboration, as it will provide a more seamless and repeatable product maintenance training service for their valued customers.

Jamco America’s vision is to ensure that the airlines’ operational efficiency is maximized. With the implementation of the HoloLens, trainee mechanics can work on their product hands-free, in real time, and without the need to refer to a separate manual. This system audibly communicates step-by-step instructions to the user as computer-generated images create a guiding overlay on the product. At the same time, the user has complete control over the pace of their work by selecting when they are ready to proceed to the next step.

In addition, documents such as the component maintenance manual will be easily accessible within the AR device. This combination of visual guidance and textual information provides a field ready, efficient, and comprehensive maintenance tool to solve problems as they arise.

Sometimes, aircraft interior products require additional troubleshooting as they travel to destinations across the globe. Jamco America’s AR system will provide the ability for mechanics in the field to access whatever assistance is required, no matter where in the world a problem arises.

AR instruction isn’t the end of Jamco America’s support. A drive for outstanding customer service, paired with this exceptional technology, will allow Jamco America Product Support representatives to communicate in real time with mechanics via remote assist. In those cases, both individuals will be able to see the same product and work together – through AR – to resolve the customer’s concern.

Jamco America understands that delivering a product to its customer is only the beginning. In-service product support for airlines is critical as well. With the use of AR technology, Jamco continues to push the boundaries of current methodologies to improve safety and efficiency for all its customers. Jamco America previously demonstrated this technology at the Aircraft Interiors Expo and the Aerospace Futures Alliance Summit and looks forward to once again showcasing this technology at the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance (PNAA) Conference 2020 in February. Those who attend PNAA in February will get the opportunity to experience Jamco’s AR training demonstration on an actual Venture business class seat. In addition, Jamco and Object Theory intend to release the complete AR training module at this year’s Aircraft Interiors Expo at the end of March.