What would automating this process actually pay back?
Automation earns its keep through more than one mechanism — labor, throughput, quality, materials, downtime. Stack the ones that apply to your process and get a payback number that survives scrutiny: no double counting, conservative by default, every assumption yours.
Free, no signup. Your numbers stay in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere unless you email yourself the report.
Paste the AI’s output below (the whole reply is fine — the JSON block is found automatically), or drop the saved file. Nothing leaves your browser.
01 Your process today
The manual process you’re thinking about automating, as it runs right now.
02 The machine
What the automation costs to put in and keep running. Estimates are fine — you can refine any number later.
Works backward from the savings you enter: the most you could spend and still hit a target payback. Fill in the savings cards first, then use this as a placeholder until you have a real quote.
Prints on the report as “placeholder — pending quote” so nobody mistakes it for a price.
03 Where the value comes from
Pick every mechanism that applies to this project — most good projects combine two or three. Each one only counts what it can defend.
Soft benefits (floor space, safety, WIP, traceability, enabling the next automation step) get their own section at the end — they strengthen the case without inflating the math.
Labor
Counts only labor the company actually stops paying for — a role removed, a hire avoided, overtime or temps cut. Redeployed people are listed on the report as freed capacity, not counted as cash. If someone still tends the new machine part-time, count only the fraction truly removed — and put the tending hours in operating cost (the “Estimate it” helper has a line for it).
Throughput / bottleneck
Two honest questions first — extra speed is only worth money if the plant can ship and sell the extra units.
Quality — scrap & rework
Counts the material and labor sunk into bad units. If recovered units also mean more sales, that upside belongs in the throughput card — and only if its two gates pass.
Materials & consumables
Material cost per unit, before vs. after. Classic case: pre-made packaging replaced by right-sized stock — a 6″ purchased bag vs. a 4″ bag formed from roll stock.
Downtime recovered
Hours per year the process stands still today (jams, waiting, minor stops) that automation gives back.
Valued at idled labor: your throughput card already counts the capacity upside — counting both would claim the same units twice.
One of the answers above is “no,” so stopped hours are valued at idled labor — recovered output that can’t ship or sell isn’t worth margin.
Changeover reduced
Product-to-product transitions made faster or more repeatable.
Valued at idled labor: your throughput card already counts the capacity upside.
One of the answers above is “no,” so saved time is valued at idled labor.
+ Beyond the math
These strengthen the case on the report without inflating the payback number. Check what applies.
Stays out of payback — listed as defensible upside. Fractional claims are honest: one claim every four years = 0.25.
Only count hires the machine genuinely prevents — a chronically unfillable position is exactly this.
How this calculator thinks
It refuses to double-count
Faster cycle time only becomes money if this process is your plant’s constraint and you could sell the extra units — so the throughput card asks both questions and counts $0 until the answers are yes. Downtime and changeover can’t claim the same capacity twice, and an operator the labor card removed can’t also be billed as “idled.”
Redeployed people aren’t savings
If Maria moves to inspection instead of leaving payroll, that’s freed capacity — valuable, but not cash. The tool lists it on the report and keeps it out of the payback math, because your owner will ask exactly that question.
Conservative by default
Capacity-based savings take a 90% availability haircut, benefits ramp over three months instead of arriving on day one, and soft benefits (safety, floor space, hiring) strengthen the report without inflating the number. Blank fields fall to the cautious default, never the flattering one.
Every number is yours to challenge
The report prints each claim with its arithmetic — volumes, rates, and the formula that produced every dollar — so a skeptical owner can check it with a desk calculator. That’s deliberate: a payback number that survives scrutiny is the only kind worth taking upstairs.