Enter your assumptions
The example values are illustrative. Use one currency throughout. Calculations run in your browser; inputs are not sent to us.
Equipment, integration, installation and initial training.
Hours released across the whole application, not just one machine cycle.
Use the avoidable employer cash cost, in your chosen currency.
Enter 0 if hours are redeployed without reducing cash expenditure.
Additional sales less incremental variable costs; exclude labour already counted.
Maintenance, software, energy, consumables and supervision.
Use a realistic operating horizon; 1–50 years.
Results from your assumptions
- Annual cash labour saving
- Annual net cash benefit
- Simple payback estimate
- Net cash gain over the period
- Undiscounted return over the period
- Annual net benefit if gross benefits fall 20%
An automation investment produces a cash return when realised operating benefits exceed its continuing costs and recover the initial expenditure. This calculator separates hours released from the share that becomes an actual cash saving. It also allows incremental contribution margin and annual operating costs. The result is a scenario based on your assumptions, not evidence that a particular robot or application will deliver the estimated benefit.
- Model
- Illustrative scenario; replace the example inputs
- Currency
- Use the same currency for every monetary input
- Data handling
- Local browser calculation; no upload or storage
How the calculation works
Annual cash labour saving equals annual hours released multiplied by cash cost per hour and the cash-realisation percentage. Annual net cash benefit adds other incremental contribution margin and subtracts additional annual operating costs. Initial investment includes the expenditure needed to make the application usable.
Simple payback equals initial investment divided by positive annual net cash benefit. Net cash gain over the selected period equals annual net benefit multiplied by years, less initial investment. The undiscounted return divides that gain by the initial investment. It is a return over the whole selected period, not an annualised percentage.
Use benefits that can be realised
Released labour time can be valuable without reducing a cash expense. If staff remain employed at the same cost, that time should not automatically appear as a cash saving. Where redeployment creates additional saleable output, enter the resulting contribution margin only when demand and the surrounding production process support it.
Avoid counting the same benefit twice. Additional margin should exclude any labour saving entered elsewhere. Likewise, a faster machine creates little additional sales value if another station remains the bottleneck. For a first scenario, use evidence from the complete workflow rather than a supplier’s best demonstrated cycle time.
Interpret the result and its limits
The downside line reduces gross labour savings and other contribution by 20%, while keeping annual operating costs unchanged. It is a transparent sensitivity check, not a probability forecast. A low margin between annual benefits and costs indicates that relatively small operating deviations can materially change the result.
The model assumes stable annual cash benefits and excludes ramp-up delays, tax, financing, inflation, residual value and discounting. Payback can extend beyond the evaluation period and should then be read as outside that chosen horizon. Use the investment payback and NPV calculator to examine discounting, and obtain project-specific operating evidence before committing funds.
Email newsletter
Physical AI Finance Monitor
Follow Physical AI Finance Monitor for research on robotics suppliers, integration, operating costs and the evidence behind industrial deployment.