Automation Business Case Planner
Build an automation business case from your own process assumptions: what the task costs today, what automation could be worth, how much you could invest for your target payback, and what financing does to monthly cash flow. Every formula is shown.
A free planning aid: no sign-up, nothing is sent anywhere, and the result is a starting point for engineering, not a guarantee.
Planner
How the business case is calculated
The planner compares what the task costs in labor today with what it costs after automation, adds only the other value sources you choose to include, subtracts what the automation costs to run, and sets that annual value against the one-time project investment.
- Operating hours a year = shifts a day × hours a shift × operating days a year
- Effective operators after = coverage × operators still needed on the automated share + (1 − coverage) × operators now
- Annual labor benefit = (operators now − effective operators after) × loaded labor cost per hour × operating hours
- Quality = current scrap and rework cost × expected reduction; materials = relevant material spend × expected reduction
- Capacity = additional sellable units × contribution margin per unit, only if the extra output can be used or sold
- Annual net operational value = labor + quality + materials + capacity + other confirmed benefit − recurring automation cost
- Simple payback = gross project investment ÷ annual net operational value (only when the value is positive)
- Simple annual ROI = annual net operational value ÷ gross project investment × 100
- Cumulative value after 3 or 5 years = annual net operational value × years − investment
- Planning project budget = annual net operational value × target payback in months ÷ 12
Partial automation
Automation rarely takes over a whole task. Coverage is the share it takes over; the operators still needed apply only to that share, and the rest of the task keeps today’s operators. At 0 % coverage nothing changes, whatever you enter for the operators still needed.
No quote yet: the planning budget
Without a quotation you can still plan. Choose the simple payback your budget holder would accept, and the planner shows the gross project budget that pays back in that time from the annual value you entered. It is a budget ceiling from your own assumptions, not a quotation or a market price. A confirmed grant lowers what you fund yourself, never the budget.
Financing
Project economics never include financing. The acquisition view compares the monthly operational value with the payment you would make. A loan payment is the standard amortizing payment: amount financed × r ÷ (1 − (1 + r)^−n), with r = APR ÷ 12 and n months (amount ÷ n at 0 %). Lease and RaaS use the quoted payments as entered: no interest rate is inferred, and a quoted fee only replaces the recurring costs you mark as included.
Stress test
Three downside cases at a percentage you choose (20 % by default): the one-time project cost that much higher, every positive annual benefit that much lower, and both at once. Recurring costs stay as entered, and financing is not recalculated.
Worked example
Two operators per shift load a machine on two 8-hour shifts, 220 days a year, at a loaded cost of €30 an hour. The automation covers the whole task, and half an operator’s time per shift is still needed. The cell costs €180,000, and maintenance, energy and consumables add €8,000 a year.
- Operating hours
- 2 × 8 × 220 = 3,520 h a year
- Annual labor benefit
- (2 − 0.5) × €30 × 3,520 = €158,400
- Annual net operational value
- €158,400 − €8,000 = €150,400
- Simple payback
- €180,000 ÷ €150,400 = 1.2 years (about 14 months)
- Simple annual ROI
- €150,400 ÷ €180,000 = 84 %
- 5-year cumulative value
- €150,400 × 5 − €180,000 = €572,000
- No quote, 18-month target
- €150,400 × 18 ÷ 12 = €225,600 planning budget
- 80 % coverage instead
- 0.8 × 0.5 + 0.2 × 2 = 0.8 effective operators; labor benefit €126,720
What you need to hand
Operators per shift on the task, the loaded labor cost per hour, shifts, hours and operating days, how much of the task the automation would take over, and either a project cost or the payback you are aiming for. Quality, material, capacity, recurring-cost and financing figures make the case more accurate but are optional.
What the business case leaves out
Real project economics also depend on:
- whether the application is technically feasible at the cycle time you need;
- real utilization, downtime and ramp-up time after installation;
- maintenance as the cell ages;
- production demand, and whether freed-up people are actually reallocated;
- taxes, depreciation, discounting, residual value and accounting treatment;
- the actual terms, approval and timing of any finance, lease, rental or grant.
Use the result to decide whether a project is worth investigating, not as a promised return, a quotation or a finance offer. It is not financial or accounting advice.