Automation ROI compares the benefits of an improvement with its cost. Payback period answers a different question: how many months it takes for the benefits to cover the investment.
What does this mean in practice?
For a given period, a simplified ROI calculation is: (benefits minus costs) / costs × 100%. Include implementation and running costs. Time recovered does not always translate into an equivalent cash saving.
Example use case
Illustrative estimate: 100 cases per month × 6 minutes less work equals 10 hours. At an assumed value of PLN 80 per hour, that time is worth PLN 800. After PLN 100 in monthly running costs, PLN 700 remains. An implementation costing PLN 2,100 would then have a simple payback period of around 3 months.
Things to consider
This is a calculation example, not a promised outcome or a price quotation. Results depend on task frequency, time actually recovered, costs and how the freed-up capacity is used.
Related terms
See also: Time calculator.