Costing worked example

Manufacturing ROI with investment cost of 42,500 $: a worked example

Here is what the math looks like when conditions slip. We hold every other input steady and drop investment cost to 42,500 $, then walk the calculation through step by step. Estimate payback, annual savings, and ROI for automation or process improvements.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Investment cost: 42,500 $ (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 85,000)
  • Annual labor savings: 42,000 $ / yr (held at the documented default)
  • Annual scrap savings: 12,000 $ / yr (held at the documented default)
  • Annual throughput benefit: 18,000 $ / yr (held at the documented default)
  • Annual energy savings: 3,500 $ / yr (held at the documented default)
  • Added annual maintenance: 6,500 $ / yr (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Annual net savings = savings − added maintenance.
  • ROI works out to 162 % at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Annual net savings works out to 69,000 $ / yr at these inputs.
  • Payback period works out to 0.62 years at these inputs.
  • Five-year net benefit works out to 302,500 $ at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where investment cost sits at 85,000 $ and the headline result is 81.18 %, this scenario comes in 100% above the baseline at 162 %.
  • The practical read: the gap between this scenario and the baseline is entirely attributable to investment cost, so recovering it is worth quantifying in dollars before considering equipment or staffing changes. It is a simple first-year ROI that ignores the time value of money, ramp-up before full savings, inflation, and salvage value; for large multi-year cases pair it with NPV or IRR.

Results at a glance

  • ROI: 162 % (headline result)
  • Annual net savings: 69,000 $ / yr
  • Payback period: 0.62 years
  • Five-year net benefit: 302,500 $

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Manufacturing ROI calculator, set investment cost to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.