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PLANTBENCH

PlantBench / Washer ROI calculator

Washer ROI calculator

Barrel, brush, flume, and flotation washers usually pay back on people, and sometimes on product you stop bruising. The water bill can take the savings back. It is not in the dollar total.

Labor is the clean story

A washer replaces a lot of hose-and-tank work. The default is a 30% cut on a modest crew, two shifts. If the wash step is already one person and a flume, cut the person-hours before you believe the payback.

Person-hours means the whole crew. Two people on an eight-hour shift is 16. Do not enter 8 unless one person does the step.

Yield is easy to overclaim

The default, under one point, is a small recovery: less bruising, less good product in the dirt tote, fewer loads rejected for soil. If the washer’s real job is consistency and foreign material, leave yield low and let labor carry the sheet.

A brush washer on tender product can cost yield. If that is the risk, set the improvement to zero rather than hoping the default is kind.

The cost this page leaves out

Water, wastewater, and sometimes a screen or a pit. In a dry week, water can be the whole argument. Write the gallons next to the PDF even though the PDF will not price them.

If you want the bill inside the payback, convert the annual water and sewer cost into a number you subtract from the savings by hand, and say you did that. The model will not invent a sewer rate.

Capital

The default is a modest washer, not a receiving rebuild with a destoner, a pebble separator, and a new pit. Those belong in capital if they are in the scope. Set the weeks to the receiving season.

Run the numbers

Your plant

These stay put when you switch equipment. Seasonal lines often run 30–40 weeks; year-round plants run closer to 50. Edit to match your calendar.

Choose a state to fill industrial averages for power, gas, and a production wage. Every figure stays editable.

lb

Annual throughput 4,800,000 lb. Operating days 240.

$/hr
%

Loaded wage $25.74 per hour.

$/lb

Price of the recovered pounds, not a premium and a yield gain for the same upgrade.

$/kWh

Typical industrial rate. Replace it with your local rate.

$/therm

Rough assumptions

Washer

Labor is the main washer story. Water and wastewater are not priced in the model.

Whole crew on this step. Four people for 8 hours is 32.

%
%

Percent of input weight lost at this step today.

pts

Points of input weight you expect to sell instead of lose.

kWh

kWh per 1,000 lb of throughput.

kWh

57,600 kWh/year, about $4,896 .

therms

Therms per 1,000 lb. Use 0 if this step has no gas.

therms

0 therms/year, about $0 .

$

Optional. Leave blank to hide payback. Fold installation into this number if you want it counted.

Annual result

$78,793

Total annual savings, before capital.

Payback
11 months
Simple ROI
105%
5-year net
$318,965
Largest term
Labor
Annual savings breakdown
Labor saved2,304 hours$59,305
Yield gain38,400 lb$21,120
Energy deltaExtra operating cost-$1,632
  • Energy is a net new cost on these assumptions, so it reduces annual savings.

Sensitivity

Payback and five-year net at half, full, and one-and-a-half times the labor reduction and yield improvement
MeasureConservativeBaseAggressive
Payback1.9 years11 months8 months
5-year net$117,902$318,965$520,027

Sensitivity only — edit the main inputs for a full recalculation.

These figures are rough estimates for discussion, not a quote, bid, or engineering study. Defaults are industry-style assumptions and will not match your plant until you edit them. The model ignores maintenance, installation, freight, water, wastewater, depreciation, taxes, incentives, and the time value of money. Yield math treats improvement as extra saleable pounds of input weight, which is the wrong model for some drying and grading decisions. Confirm every assumption before a capex meeting.

Annual savings

$78,793

Details

Questions

Does it model sanitizer or chemicals?

No. Add a known chemical budget by hand when you read the annual savings.

We need it for an audit, not for a return.

Then payback is the wrong decision tool. Use the PDF to show operating cost and call the purchase a compliance cost.

Can I zero out electricity?

Yes. Set both kWh rates to zero if you do not want a token electric load in the total.

Barrel, brush, or flotation?

Same sheet. The differences that matter are labor removed, yield given up or gained, water, and capital. The machine type does not have its own formula.

Other equipment