Resources · Tool
Automation Payback Calculator
Enter six figures to get an indicative cost range and a payback period. The calculator applies three tests, and any one of them can return don't build this. The process must recover enough hours, pay back within a set period, and save more than it costs to run.
This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent to us, stored or logged. Closing the tab deletes it. We have filled in a typical example so you can see what the result looks like. Replace the figures with your own. If you raise the build complexity or lower the volume, the same example fails.
The work as it stands
UNIT 01Choose one process. The calculator is only accurate for work that someone can count.
How many times the task runs in a typical month.
Hands-on time for one run, from start to finish. Do not count waiting time unless someone has to watch the task.
The full cost per hour: salary, CPF, benefits and overhead, not only the hourly rate on a payslip. For most back-office roles at Singapore SMEs, this is between S$28 and S$55.
What kind of decision it is
UNIT 02This input has the most effect on the result, and people often get it wrong. Automation takes over part of the work, but some of that time comes back as supervision.
What it would take to build
UNIT 03Build cost depends mainly on how many separate systems the automation must connect to. The ranges are indicative for the Singapore SME market and are deliberately wide.
Result
UNIT 04Build it
10 monthsPayback, worst case
This automation pays for itself in about 10 months
The process takes about 1075 hours a year today, including rework. The type of automation you described can take over 753 of those hours. Supervision and exception handling take back 135 hours, which leaves 617 recoverable hours, worth S$23,448.
With a build cost of S$8,000 to S$18,000 and running costs of about S$2,400 a year, the payback is between 5 months and 10 months. The business case is clear. The main risk is whether the person who must do the 135 hours of supervision has time for it.
- Current annual effort
- 1,075 hours
- Spent on supervision
- 135 hours
- Recoverable hours
- 617 hours
- Value of recovered time
- S$23,448 / yr
- Indicative build
- S$8,000 – S$18,000
- Running cost
- S$2,400 / yr
- Net annual benefit
- S$21,048
- Payback range
- 5 months – 10 months
Save your result
↓Your result as plain text. You can paste it into an email, a board paper or a request for quotation without giving us your email address. It stays clear when you forward it to a colleague who has not seen the tool.
What this assumes
UNIT 05We publish the assumptions behind the result so that you can check them. If you disagree with the result, you can point to the exact assumption you disagree with.
- Rework costs 1.5× a first-pass run. A redo includes the task itself plus the work of finding out that it was needed.
- Supervision reduces the saving. People check automated work, and a person still handles the exceptions. For rules-based work, about 10% of the automated time comes back as supervision. For work that needs judgement, 30% comes back.
- Running cost is 15–22% of the build midpoint a year, with a minimum of S$2,400. This covers licences, support and the time the system owner will spend on it.
- Cost ranges are indicative for the Singapore SME market and are deliberately wide. Six inputs are not enough for a single precise figure. A vendor who quotes one from this little information is guessing.
- The calculator claims no benefit for quality, speed or risk. These are often the real reason to automate, but they are hard to price, so we leave them out. If the business case only works once you include them, you should know that.
The calculator returns a stop in three cases: fewer than 120 recoverable hours a year, a payback longer than 36 months at the top of the cost range, or a saving smaller than the running cost.
Technical references
UNIT 06These are the sources for the reasoning on this page. We mark standards that you must pay to read. Where a free document covers the same subject better, we list it first.
- SAE JA1011Paid standardSAE InternationalThe evaluation criteria for reliability-centred maintenance. This discipline is why you should ask which failure mode a sensor targets before you buy it.
- ISO 42001 explainedISOISO's free summary. Read this first to decide whether certification is relevant to you before you buy the standard.
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