Case Study: Ultimaker Earned Back Over $450K from U.S. Customs in Weeks
Caspian Team
3 mins read
Nov 5, 2025
THE PROBLEM
UltiMaker, a leading global manufacturer of 3D printing solutions, ships globally a variety of finished products, components and replacement parts. Yet despite a steady volume of cross-border shipments, the company wasn’t pursuing U.S. duty drawback refunds, because the team’s past experiences with drawback were time-consuming and difficult. “With typical providers, whoever is filing for you takes a cut of the refund even though you ended up doing 95% of the work,” explains James Franz, UltiMaker President, Americas.
As a result, UltiMaker voluntarily left substantial refund opportunities on the table. While both finance and operations teams wanted a way to recover duties efficiently, they needed a way to claim refunds without adding administrative burden or diverting focus from core operations.
CASPIAN’S SOLUTION
Caspian introduced its technology-driven drawback platform to automate and simplify UltiMaker’s refund program from end-to-end. Rather than manually compiling import and export data, Caspian connected directly to the various repositories holding UltiMaker’s data. Once the data had been ingested, the system automatically matched thousands of records and identified eligible drawback claims in days, not months.
From onboarding to filing, Caspian’s team provided clear guidance, managing the technical and regulatory complexities on UltiMaker’s behalf. Automated data linking replaced manual spreadsheets, while Caspian’s claim dashboard gave UltiMaker real-time visibility into refund progress—something previously impossible.
The experience marked a fundamental shift. Caspian’s AI-driven model combined expert oversight with intelligent automation:
Intelligent data gathering allowed the requisite source data to be compiled with only 20 hours of time required from a single headcount resource at the company
Automated data mapping connected 915 export shipments to corresponding import entries with minimal manual input and 100% audit-ready compliance
Workflow visibility allowed UltiMaker to “track and see the status of a claim in the Caspian platform, whereas in the past once you filed you wouldn’t know what was happening with the claim after that.”
For UltiMaker, this approach made duty drawback not just feasible—but repeatable and transparent.
THE OUTCOME
Within the first few months of implementation, UltiMaker compiled and filed claims worth +$450,000 in duty refunds—capital that would have otherwise remained lost. Claim filings spanned multiple privilege types and encompassed affiliated distributors’ operations. Automation cut more than 90% of manual processing time, freeing operations teams to focus on higher-value work.
The program’s success demonstrated how a modern, tech-enabled approach could unlock immediate financial returns without the overhead of traditional drawback brokers. With Caspian’s system in place, UltiMaker transformed drawback from a bureaucratic chore into a streamlined, data-driven process—laying the foundation for sustained annual savings.
