Why traceability matters now
Airlines, MROs and lessors are turning to used serviceable material (USM) to secure parts availability, work around OEM supply delays and keep aircraft flying. Every used part carries its operational history with it, and that history has to be verified before the part goes back on an aircraft.
Market driver
Lead times for new OEM parts keep stretching. Airlines and MROs increasingly source serviceable parts from aircraft teardowns and engine part-outs to secure availability, recover faster from AOG events and reduce downtime. USM is no longer a stopgap; it is becoming a core part of how operators plan their parts supply.
Industry challenge
Buyers need its back-to-birth history: FAA 8130-3 or EASA Form 1 certificates, previous operators, install and removal records, LLP cycles and non-incident statements. The AOG Technics case showed the cost of documents that can't be trusted.
Operational bottleneck
Bills of sale, work orders, LLP status sheets and shop visit reports sit with different owners, MROs and suppliers. Manual review is slow, and one trace gap can stall a sale or a lease return.
The problem
As more used parts move between owners, more records have to be collected and checked. Most of today's traceability problems come from how those records are kept, not from the parts themselves.
Each owner, operator, MRO and supplier keeps its own part of the story, in its own system.
Teams compare serial numbers and dates across scanned documents, which is slow and easy to get wrong.
A certificate that cannot be checked against its source leaves room for parts with falsified paperwork.
A single gap in the history can hold up a part sale, an installation or an aircraft's return to its lessor.
The WILBUR™ approach
WILBUR™ connects to the ERP systems where part events are already recorded. Births, sales, installations, removals, repairs and scrapping are captured as they happen, with no re-keying.
Each event is written as an immutable block on the WILBUR™ blockchain and linked to the part's digital twin, so the full history from birth to scrap stays in one place and cannot be quietly changed. See how WILBUR™ works and the blockchain behind it.
Airlines, MROs, lessors, suppliers and authorities each read the same record. Explore what that means for your role in the aftermarket, or read more on USM and back-to-birth traceability.
FAQ
It is a complete, unbroken record of an aircraft part's life, from the day it was manufactured to the present: every owner, installation, removal, repair and release certificate along the way.
A used part is only airworthy if its history can be proven. Buyers, operators and authorities need that history to confirm the part is genuine, within its limits and fit to fly before it goes back on an aircraft.
Typically the manufacturer's certificate of conformity, FAA 8130-3 or EASA Form 1 release certificates, install and removal records, shop visit reports and work orders, life-limited part status sheets, bills of sale and non-incident statements.
WILBUR™ connects to the ERP systems where part events are already recorded, writes each event as an immutable record on its blockchain, and links them into one digital history per part that every authorized party can verify.