Why is the payback row blank with negative net savings?

No year, whole or partial, pays back an investment out of negative savings. The model returns nothing rather than a negative number that would read like a date.

What target payback should I set?

Set it from your company's capital policy. Two to three years is common for automation projects, but the target you enter is the only bar this page checks.

Does five-year ROI include support cost?

Yes. Net annual savings subtract support cost before anything else, so the five-year benefit and the ROI both use savings after support rather than gross savings.

How do I estimate the annual savings inputs?

Build them from measured labor hours, stop time and output gains, priced at your own rates. Include scrap and energy only when the project actually changes them.

Conveyors calculator

Conveyor Payback Calculator

Turn a conveyor project's investment, annual savings and support cost into payback and five-year returns. Enter the payback target your capital review applies.

What this calculator does

Payback, net savings and five-year ROI for a conveyor project, tested against a payback target.

Formula used

Net annual savings = annual labor, downtime and throughput savings − annual conveyor support cost
Conveyor payback period = project investment ÷ net annual savings, blank when net savings are zero or less
Five-year net benefit = net annual savings × 5 − project investment
Five-year ROI = five-year net benefit ÷ project investment × 100, blank when investment is zero
Gap to target payback = payback period − target payback

Inputs explained

Total Project Investment: Equipment, controls, installation and startup for the project.
Annual Labor, Downtime and Throughput Savings: Labor, downtime and throughput savings the project returns yearly.
Annual Conveyor Support Cost: Maintenance, spares, energy and software the conveyor needs yearly.
Target Payback: Payback the capital review requires from the project.

How to use the result

Best suited to building a capital request for a conveyor, testing a project against a payback target, comparing two conveyor quotes.
Simple payback ignores salvage, ramp-up and residual value after five years. Vendor savings estimates should be audited line by line before use.

Current U.S. benchmarks

The U.S. has 21,668 machinery manufacturing establishments employing about 1,086,146 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).

Common questions

Why is the payback row blank with negative net savings? No year, whole or partial, pays back an investment out of negative savings. The model returns nothing rather than a negative number that would read like a date.
What target payback should I set? Set it from your company's capital policy. Two to three years is common for automation projects, but the target you enter is the only bar this page checks.
Does five-year ROI include support cost? Yes. Net annual savings subtract support cost before anything else, so the five-year benefit and the ROI both use savings after support rather than gross savings.
How do I estimate the annual savings inputs? Build them from measured labor hours, stop time and output gains, priced at your own rates. Include scrap and energy only when the project actually changes them.

Last reviewed 2026-10-01.