In the late 1960s, Art Carr founded Burbank Plastics, a small plastic fabrication and supply business. Operating out of a small office and warehouse in Hollywood, California, Art left his full-time sales role with EIS, Inc., an electrical insulation supplier, to build his startup company's success story.
After two years of successful sales, Art purchased a retail storefront called Valley Plastics, where he sold plastic sheet protectors and supplies for hobby and business customers. He then moved Burbank Plastics and Valley Plastics to a single location in Burbank, California. Art began focusing his business on the design and fabrication of custom plastic sheets for trade and retail customers, and he continued to specialize in retail and business-to-business plastic sheeting, electrical insulation, and specialty plastics.
With Lockheed Aircraft located just down the street, Art built this account to be his most significant customer. Valley Plastics continued to expand, so Art sold the plastic sheeting business to one of his employees. While he continued to operate in the exact location, he switched his focus to serving the aviation industry.
In 1971, Art partnered with his long-time friend, Father John, to found Jaco Industrials, naming the company after the first letters of their names and “CO” for the company. While Father John assisted Art in startup fundraising and office support, he remained a somewhat silent partner to Art. The retail side of the business (Valley Plastics) closed in the mid-1980s, and Art focused on the B2B and wholesale business until 1991.
In 1991, Art sold Jaco Industrial to Steve Coy, and Steve relocated the business to Hacienda Heights, California. Steve managed Jaco Industrial, keeping it small and focused on servicing its customers. During this time, Continental Airlines–now United Airlines was Jaco’s biggest customer.
In 2006, Freida's husband left his position at a major real estate firm to start ElJet (a jet charter company). As with most startups, finances were tight. Intrigued by aviation since she was a child and now a firsthand witness to her husband’s charter business, Freida began a search for her own business to augment the family’s income. She evaluated multiple opportunities because she wanted to continue to balance her role as a mother and businesswoman.
In 2008, Freida Schusterman found the right opportunity and purchased Jaco Industrial. Eager to take this company to the next level with a digitally driven business model, Freida set the strategic plan to build Jaco to the leading aviation and aerospace industrial supplier in North America and beyond.
“When I purchased this business, I was told it was not easy to advance in this industry,” Freida says. “Challenge accepted.”
By mapping a strategic vision to become a technology-driven resource for customers, including Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, Collins Pratt & Whitney, United Airlines, the U.S. Armed Forces, the Federal Aviation Administration, and NASA, Freida leveraged her talents and her team of specialized contractors’ capabilities to guide a lean, service-focused organization.
Freida’s husband, Berel, joined Jaco part-time as vice president in 2008 and continued to serve in a fractional role while operating EIJet Aviation Services (a jet charter company) until 2017. During the first ten years with Jaco, Berel supported Freida in driving the strategic direction, long-term vision, high-level decision-making, and people strategy. He stepped in to drive technology innovations and compliance certifications. At the same time, Freida focused on growing the company portfolio and the team they needed to become the aerospace industry’s leading supplies distributor.
A year after purchasing the organization, Freida began an acquisition strategy to grow Jaco’s capabilities. Starting with the purchase of MTP Inc. Exporters, Freida and her team continued to build value by adding chemicals, extrusions, fabrics, adhesives, and sealants to their portfolio. The company briefly became Jaco MTP Inc., and in 2010, Freida changed the name to Jaco Aerospace to focus its mission on serving aerospace companies.
2011 the organization grew significantly, so Freida relocated the warehouse to Pasadena, California, to accommodate more people and specialty supplies. The following year, she acquired Western Manufacturing, an aerospace fitting distributor. Seeing the need to expand the warehouse again, Jaco relocated to another warehouse facility double the size of the original Pasadena location.
In 2014, Freida acquired Tapes Plus Inc., a well-known, innovative, and recognized leader in the worldwide distribution of aircraft and industrial tapes. The acquisition essentially doubled the size of the Jaco parts and supplies portfolio. Jaco again increased warehouse facilities to accommodate the Tapes Plus stock and processing equipment.
At this point, the Jaco portfolio was the leading supplier of aerospace supplies, and they continued to grow year-over-year. To continue to offer value and streamline operations, Freida facilitated another move to a remodeled 10,000-square-foot facility in Pasadena.
The year 2020 presented significant challenges to the aerospace industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shutdowns and supply chain delays were some of the issues faced by the industry. Fortunately, Jaco was able to weather the storm well by diversifying its products to include aerospace, defense, industrial, and space. This enabled them to maintain their staff even during difficult times.
During the pandemic, Jaco took advantage of the situation and worked on building new infrastructure while incorporating operational improvements. They are now focusing on growing their technology optimization in the future.
“Growing our catalog from 5 million parts to 7 million parts over the past six years, we knew we needed to invest in our technology to continue to be the aerospace industrial sourcing leader,” Freida says. “Our technology is unsurpassed, and we have built a proprietary platform that allows us to source and quote quickly and efficiently. We focus on refining this technology to increase our agility and service.”
Berel currently focuses on perfecting the search engine optimization for the industry’s leading supply website, guiding the technology team to maintain a seamless quoting process – RFQ to delivery. He leads a team of infrastructure engineers in delivering the best e-commerce experience for the aerospace industry.
In 2022, knowing that they would finalize the arduous process of becoming a NIST and CMMC-compliant organization, Freida and Berel brought in a director of operations to oversee the warehouse and sales operations. Jeremiah Rees joined Jaco in March 2022 to direct the daily operations of the Valencia warehouse.
Jeremiah quickly increased warehouse efficiency by investing in infrastructure improvements, including a new racking system. With his specialized background in aerospace warehouse operations, he immediately saw room for process improvements. By focusing on throughput, inventory management, and team function, Jeremiah improved the overall customer and employee experience. Since joining the team, he partnered closely with Freida to revamp their AS9120B certification.
Freida’s business acumen and impact as a leader show in every aspect of the Jaco business. She leverages the right talent and people-first company culture to deliver the best purchasing and procurement experience in the aerospace industry. According to her team, she is deliberate about building work-life balance in every team member’s life, and she shows how much she cares through employee recognition, internal promotion, and training and development.
We see robust growth continuing to head our way and hope to continue to tell the Jaco story as it develops.
