Skip to content

Manual handling versus automation, by cost

The current cost of manual handling and the gap against the cost of a solution. All rates are yours.

Your numbers

What comes out

Hours per month
1,720
Manual handling per month
26,800
Difference per month
26,300
Difference per year
315,600
Share of current cost
98%

Amounts are in whatever unit you entered them.

How it is calculated

people × shifts × hours × days per week × 4.3 × hourly cost + other costs − cost of the solution

What the calculation excludes

  • Weeks per month are taken as 4.3 — the yearly average.
  • The hourly cost is the loaded one: salary, taxes and everything you attribute to an hour of work. Entering salary alone overstates the difference.
  • The difference is not profit. It becomes profit only when the freed hours are filled with something billable rather than turning into idle time.
  • The calculation excludes implementation and support: those are separate figures and belong with the cost of the solution.
  • Automation rarely removes manual work entirely. If some operations stay with people, reduce the people-per-shift figure to the actual one.

How the calculation is put together

  • People per shift
  • Shifts per day
  • Hours per shift
  • Days per week
  • Cost per hour
  • Other monthly costs
  • Cost of the solution per month
  • Hours per month
  • Manual handling per month
  • Difference per month
  • Difference per year
  • Share of current cost

We'll run the same calculation on your data and show you where it goes wrong

A free session: we look at the process, name the assumptions and say what can be measured and what can't.