What changed when a New Jersey electronics plant put two mobile robots on bus routes

October 1, 2026 · 2 min read

Magna-Power builds made to order power systems in a 73,000 square foot Flemington plant where parts flowed between departments by hand. Two MiR100 robots now run scheduled routes between the stockroom and each department. The vendor reports about three full time employees of transport work freed and trade press reports payback under a year.

The short answer

A family owned, vertically integrated electronics manufacturer replaced people carrying parts between sheet metal, machining, board assembly and test with two autonomous mobile robots running scheduled bus routes. The vendor reports transportation work equal to about three full time employees freed for higher value tasks, trade press reports an average of 4.6 miles traveled a day and a payback under one year. The account below is the maker's own case story, so read every number as the vendor published it, not as an audited result.

What the job looked like before

Because the plant makes everything in house, material moved constantly between departments, and people carried it all day. Nobody owned those hours as a cost; they were spread across everyone.

What they put in

Two MiR100 autonomous mobile robots with shelf style top modules, magnetic department labels on the shelving so staff know what goes where, automatic charging, and fixed loops on a schedule between the stockroom and each department. No call buttons or software integration on day one.

What changed, in their numbers

An average of 4.6 miles traveled per day, reported by trade press. Transportation work equal to about three full time employees freed for higher value tasks, published by the vendor. Payload of 220 pounds per robot, reported by trade press as the MiR100 rating. Payback under one year, reported by trade press. Cost was not published.

What this does not tell you

It does not publish the cost. The three FTE figure measures walking time recaptured, not headcount cut, and that is also how you should present it internally. It does not describe Wi-Fi coverage, charging locations or how forklift and robot traffic were separated, which are the practical problems in an older building.

What to verify in your own plant

Count how many times a day material actually moves between departments. Walk your aisles for width, floor condition, ramps and door thresholds. Plan Wi-Fi and charging. And put forklift and mobile robot traffic mixing at the top of the risk assessment, even though the robots themselves are safety rated.

Sources: https://mobile-industrial-robots.com/cases/magna-power and https://www.electronicspecifier.com/industries/robotics/mir-robots-more-cost-effective-than-traditional-agvs

Give Joe, the concierge on this site, your routes, loads and floor, and it will size the robot class against your cart weight and tell you which doors and ramps drive the integration.

Related on this site

Fixed loops on a schedule are the simplest mobile robot case to justify and to trust. Walk your aisles for width, ramps and thresholds before any demo.

Put it to the test on your own job

Tell Joe what you are running and he will apply this to your numbers, including telling you when a robot is the wrong answer.

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