Data Expertise Leads to Substantial Drawback Refunds

Client

Manufacturer of military and civilian aircraft engines.

Challenge

The client’s bestselling engine had the greatest potential for drawback due to its domestic and international sales, resulting in significant exports worldwide. The problem was that  “ghost parts”—parts interchangeable for the same use that would be left on a bill of materials—made it unclear which part was used in actual manufacture. The data showed that more than one of these parts would be used simultaneously, which was impossible. Because the BOM was inaccurate due to not specifying exactly what was being exported, much of the product in these engines was not eligible to claim drawback.

Solution

J.M. Rodgers met with their engineers and IT team to develop a way to add a notation indicating which parts are used in the actual physical product, so they can be identified in the exported unit. J.M. Rodgers’ IT engineers found other information elsewhere that identified the part numbers and serial numbers of the parts, allowing a more direct way to see which parts were actually in these engines. By doing this, J.M. Rodgers could claim the entirety of the drawback potential per engine.

Results

Where previously data issues had caused the client great difficulty capitalizing on their most significant opportunity, J.M. Rodgers corrected the incorrect data, leading to substantial increases in the potential for added refunds per engine, eventually adding up to multi-million-dollar increases in annual refunds. By completing this work at no extra charge, we delivered considerable value to our customer through our data expertise, going well beyond simply filing drawback claims.