Seating materials and interior products manufacturer Skandia is showcasing here at the NBAA Convention its recently introduced replacement seat foam for 9-g certified business aircraft seating found on older airplanes. Skandia calls its 9G-EC (engineered comfort) foam “a quantum leap in simplifying and reducing the cost” of replacing or refurbishing seats built to TSO-C39 (9-g dynamic certification) standards.
Made of firehard Dax foam, the 9G-EC is a pre-engineered seat foam block. Its custom architecture and the “negative space” designed and engineered into the cushion allows for both softer compression and greater support, achieving what the company calls “a level of comfort never before experienced.”
Skandia is the business aviation market’s exclusive supplier of Dax foam, the primary material used in about 95 percent of all business jet seats, according to the company.
Skandia (Booth 1040) is also known for its flammability testing services and currently conducts about 70 percent of all aviation flammability testing in the world, a capability that also helps cut costs and save time for 9G-EC purchasers. The Dawson Junction, Ill.-based company can take a customer’s desired dress cover for the seating and test the complete seating package for overall flammability as part of the purchase.
The pre-formed 9G-EC cushion blocks can easily be cut and crafted to desired seat configuration using either hand tools or Skandia’s patented foam cutting and trimming Pin Saws. In a field test, Skandia took G9-EC foam blocks and a Pin Saw to a customer refurbishing the interior of a Gulfstream GIII. “They took their template, applied it to a 9G-EC cushion and produced a finished cushion ready for upholstery in four minutes,” said Jarod Triplett, Skandia’s vice president. In addition to the “significant amount of time” saved, “they were pleasantly shocked at how easy it was to work with,” and “more impressed with the comfort,” he added.
Growth on the Horizon
More seating innovations could be on the way. Two years ago Skandia sold a majority stake to investment firm Graycliff Partners of New York City, and the company is now in expansion mode. “We’re looking to actively grow,” said Triplett. “I can see us doubling in size of the next five years, with some targeted market recovery as well as the acquisition of some new product lines and services to our portfolio.”
A year ago, aiming “to drive down cost and weight, but enhance quality,” the company created an R&D team of four headed by a new vice president of engineering to study the interactions of various seating materials. Last fall Skandia introduced a new-generation Dax VXS visco-elastic foam, a high-density product 25 to 50 percent lighter per cubic foot than other visco-elastic foams, and whose anti-flammability performance meets current 25.853(a) and 25.853(c) regulations.
This spring, Skandia opened a new smoke and heat release testing facility. Triplett said the facility was created at the direction of Airbus to meet the OEM’s testing needs, but that it’s “necessary that we have that capability” for future heat release, smoke emission and toxicity testing needs.” The company also recently received Airbus authorization to provide ongoing flammability testing and certification services.
Thirty Years Ago
Founded in 1983 as a business jet interiors completions provider, the company took off soon after when the FAA implemented new flammability standards. “Nobody knew how to do oil-burn tests other than the FAA,” Triplett said. Company founder Tim Theden built test equipment designed to the FAA’s fire-test handbook specifications, to test materials the company was using in aircraft interiors work, and soon Skandia developed a thriving flammability testing business.
Another break came in the late 1980s when Theden gained from Dax’s manufacturer, NCFI Polyurethanes, exclusive rights to the non-airline aviation market. Skandia currently provides Dax foam alone or foam and fabricated foam seat parts for 26 different business aircraft programs. The foam is also used in divans, headliners and side paneling.
Today Skandia has four divisions: flammability testing and engineering; Dax distribution; upholstery supplies; and turnkey seat solutions. Its turnkey seat division handles design and engineering, testing and construction of seats for OEMs. “Just lock them into the seat rails,” Triplett said of the ready-to-install seating. The division launched by providing seats for the Learjet 40 and 45 models, later produced the seating for the Learjet 60, and has now been awarded the seat contract for the Learjet 70 and 75. This year the company celebrates its 15th anniversary as Learjet’s primary seating and interior integrator.
Triplett, however, said Skandia isn’t looking to expand this division and is eager to avoid stepping on the toes of refurbishment centers and customers like Zodiac Aerospace and Iacobucci HF Aerospace, which use Dax in the seats they manufacture. (One of Skandia’s few competitors in the seating materials supply space is Metzeler Schaum of Memmingen, Germany.) Nonetheless, Triplett said the turnkey seat construction work “is helpful in keeping people on top of changes in materials and how they need to be used more efficiently.”
In addition to its testing services, the flammability testing and engineering division provides engineering services to help customers meet material flammability standards and improve the comfort and anti-flammability properties of their products. The company has four DERs and two DARs on staff to develop the engineering and tests for clients’ products.
Skandia also manufactures soundproofing kits that cover 82 aircraft models from piston-engine aircraft to Boeing 747s, and these can dampen sound three to five decibels, Triplett said, or about 50 percent on average.
In recent years Skandia has experienced 12- to 14-percent organic growth, and the company expects to maintain that rate over the next five years. To help keep Skandia on track, the company in August brought aboard James Barnes as executive vice president and CFO, charged with managing Skandia’s aircraft interiors and engineering business, and assisting the company in its search for a strategic acquisition. “While not without risks, acquisitions can be a very effective way to accelerate growth,” said Barnes.
