Free tool

Robot payback calculator: honest math for one station

Enter what the job costs you today and what a cell would cost to buy and run. You get simple payback, five-year net, and the version of the answer where you were 30 percent too optimistic. Then hand the numbers to Joe and a person checks the assumptions. Nothing here is a quote.

1. The job

Which application is closest? What is the return made of?

2. What it costs today

People on this job per shift Hours per shift actually spent on it Shifts per day Days per week Fully loaded hourly rate, dollars Overtime, temps and turnover you would stop paying, dollars a year Share of freed hours that become productive work, percent

If the people stay and the hours simply disappear into the day, lower that last number. Payback math lies when the labor was never there.

2b. Machine hours the cell adds

Extra machine hours per week Shop rate per machine hour, dollars Margin kept on that time, percent

Count hours the machine would actually cut, not hours the robot is switched on. The spindle hours decide it.

3. What the cell costs

Equipment, dollars Integration, tooling and fixtures, dollars Software, service and consumables, dollars a year Hours a week someone tends the cell

Starting figures are the midpoints of the illustrative ranges in our guide, which exist for planning, not quoting. Replace them with the quote in your hand.

Three ways a payback calculation lies to you

What this calculator will not do

It will not tell you the robot can hold your rate. Peak rate, part weight and reach decide that, and an integrator confirms it on your part. Size for peak, not average.
It will not price your cell. The ranges come from our published guides and are planning figures. Quotes come from a person, with the manufacturer's lead time attached.
It will not count the quality side. Scrap, rework and escapes often matter more than labor, and they belong in the conversation with Joe.