Beyond the Labor | Understanding Robot ROI from Products to Profits

Now Available On-Demand
Original Broadcast Date: June 23, 2025 

Duration: 1 hour 

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Summary

The decision to move from a manual to an automated process has historically been a laborious, lengthy and capital-intensive endeavor. Calculating the return on investment (ROI) of such a project is critical to the decision-making process. Companies beginning their automation journey tend to look at robots as a 1-to-1 replacement for their workforce leading to expensive over-tolled and over-automated processes. Focusing solely on labor replacement can lead companies to vastly undervalue some of the less obvious cost savings created by the switch to robotics.

In this presentation, we will learn some of the best practices and common pitfalls to avoid when calculating the ROI of a robotic implementation, including:

• Efficient system design for a high-mix manufacturing environment
• Cost benefits from increased production and decreased waste
• Indirect cost benefits generated from increased worker satisfaction and safety
• Long term cost savings from greater traceability, product consistency and redeployability.  

By considering these concepts, companies can move toward considering robots as part of an overall process improvement opportunity vs simply as a direct replacement to workers. Doing so brings into consideration improvements to the production environment, increased product quality, and enhanced company profitability. Ultimately a refocused ROI calculation will help companies pivot from mid-line labor expenses to top-line revenue and bottom-line profitability.