ROI Calculator
How long will your automation project take to pay back?
Change the figures and your payback, ROI and cost per hour update as you type. Built on UK wages, on-costs and shift patterns.
- Liveresults as you type
- 6 inputsfor a first estimate
- PDFreport for sign-off
Full breakdown
Where the money comes from
Every figure below updates with the calculator above. It’s the same breakdown that goes into the PDF report.
Per year
| Labour savings | — |
|---|---|
| Productivity benefit | — |
| Absence saving | — |
| Defect saving | — |
| Total annual benefit | — |
| Maintenance | — |
| Energy | — |
| Consumables | — |
| Net annual benefit | — |
Cost per running hour
| Averaged over | Automation |
|---|---|
| Year 1 | — |
| 3 years | — |
| 5 years | — |
| Operators it replaces | — |
Automation: the investment plus running costs, divided by the hours the system runs. Operators: the fully-loaded hourly rate for the people on one shift.
Cumulative savings vs investment
Annual cost: manual vs automated
Manual: the labour, absence and reject costs the project removes. Automated: maintenance, energy and consumables.
This calculator provides indicative estimates only. All figures are based on the inputs provided and standard industry assumptions. Actual savings will vary depending on your specific application, working practices, maintenance requirements, and market conditions. This output does not constitute financial advice. AutomationWorld accepts no liability for decisions made on the basis of these projections. Always seek independent verification from your chosen automation supplier before committing to investment.
Next step
Find UK integrators for this project
The Project Matcher starts with your sector and project type already filled in.
PDF report
- Every input and assumption listed
- 5-year breakdown and cost per running hour
- Ready to pass to whoever signs off the budget
Report on its way
This ROI Calculator is different. Enter your labour costs, project investment, and running costs, and it’ll give you a payback period, a 5-year ROI, and a full annual breakdown, right in the browser. No spreadsheet, no download, no guesswork.
It’s built for UK manufacturers running real projects: palletising, picking, cobots, AGVs, welding, vision systems. The numbers it uses (on-costs, operating days, shift patterns) reflect how UK businesses actually work, not a generic US template someone adapted.
If you want to go deeper than the headline figures, the ‘Refine your estimate’ panels let you add throughput gains, absence savings, and fewer rejects.
Run the numbers, then download your results as a PDF or share them with whoever needs to sign off the budget.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good ROI for an industrial automation project?
Most UK manufacturers target a payback period of 2–4 years on automation investments, which equates to a simple ROI of 25–50% annually over the life of the system. Projects with strong labour savings — particularly those replacing 2+ operators per shift — often achieve payback within 18–24 months. A 5-year ROI of 150–300% is considered strong for robotic palletising, conveyor systems, and AGV deployments. The right benchmark depends heavily on your sector, shift pattern, and project cost.
How do you calculate the ROI of a manufacturing automation project?
Automation ROI is calculated by comparing your total annual benefit (labour savings, productivity gains, fewer rejects, absence cover) against the cost of the automation system (capital cost or finance repayments, plus maintenance, energy, and consumables). Payback period = total project cost ÷ net annual benefit. A 5-year ROI expressed as a percentage = (total net benefit over 5 years − project cost) ÷ project cost × 100, so a project that pays back in 2 years has a 5-year ROI of 150%. This calculator works all of this out as you type.
What labour costs should I include when calculating automation ROI?
You should include the fully-loaded cost of each operator being replaced — not just their hourly wage. In the UK, employer on-costs typically add 20–25% on top of the base wage, covering employer National Insurance contributions, pension auto-enrolment, and other employment costs. For a £16/hr operator working a single shift, the fully-loaded annual cost is typically £37,000–£40,000. This calculator applies your on-cost percentage automatically and multiplies across operators, shifts, and operating days.
Does the calculator account for productivity and throughput gains?
Yes. Under ‘Refine your estimate’ there is an optional throughput panel where you can enter your expected percentage increase in output and the annual revenue value of the process being automated. There are also separate panels for absence savings (automated systems don’t call in sick) and fewer rejects, where you can say how many of today’s rejects you expect automation to remove. All three are optional, so complete whichever apply to your project. Their combined benefit is added to your labour savings to produce the final ROI figure.
Can I use this calculator for any type of automation?
The calculator is designed for industrial automation projects across UK manufacturing and logistics, including robotic palletising, robotic picking, conveyor systems, AGVs and AMRs, collaborative robots, vision and inspection systems, welding automation, packaging automation, and assembly automation. The core calculation methodology — labour savings vs. annualised project cost — applies across all of these. Sector-specific inputs such as typical wage rates and shift patterns are relevant regardless of the automation type chosen.
What’s the difference between payback period and ROI?
Payback period tells you how many years it takes to recoup your initial investment from the net annual savings generated. ROI (return on investment) expressed as a percentage tells you how much the project returns on top of what you spent. A project with a 2-year payback earns back 2.5× its cost over 5 years. Take away the 1× you spent and that’s a 150% 5-year ROI. Both metrics matter: payback period is typically used to assess risk and get investment approved, while multi-year ROI is used to compare competing projects.