Packing and palletizing robot payback: a worksheet for food plants

What a given labor saving can carry

The table is arithmetic from two public figures and one schedule assumption. The wage is the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics May 2025 mean for packers and packagers, hand, SOC 53-7064, in NAICS 3114, fruit and vegetable preserving and specialty food manufacturing: $18.16 an hour. The burden is benefits divided by wages from the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, private industry, manufacturing, June 2026: $16.12 divided by $32.50, which is 49.6%. Loaded wage is $18.16 times (1 + 49.6%), which is $27.17 an hour, rounded to the cent the way the worksheet rounds money.

One position-shift is 2,080 hours: 8 hours times 5 days times 52 weeks. At $27.17 that is $56,513.60 a year. The 2,080 hours are an assumption. A seasonal plant should use its own weeks. The 2-year and 3-year columns are that annual amount times 2 and times 3. They are the installed cost labor savings alone would carry before maintenance, energy, and support. This is not a quote and not a typical price.

The 49.6% burden is an average across all manufacturing workers, not hand packers. The plant's own payroll burden should replace it.

Inputs that move robot payback

Headcount per shift times Hours per shift is the person-hours on that shift. Shifts per day, Days per week, and Weeks per year set the year. Labor reduction is the share of those hours that actually leave. Redeploying people is not a payroll cut unless the hours go away, or the plant avoids a hire or overtime it would have paid.

Wage is the base hourly rate. Burden is a percent of that wage. Loaded wage on the sheet is Wage times (1 + Burden / 100), rounded to the cent. The 49.6% figure is one public reference for the Burden field. Replace it with the plant's burden. The robotics preset starts at 3.5 on Headcount per shift (28 person-hours) and a Labor reduction of 45%. Both are worksheet assumptions. Replace them with the crew on this step.

Maintenance, new is the cell's annual maintenance. A blank Maintenance, new uses 2.5% of equipment cost once equipment cost is entered. A blank Maintenance today is filled from equipment age and condition, also once equipment cost is entered. The maintenance line is Maintenance today minus Maintenance, new. Type both dollar amounts when you have them. Electricity today and Electricity with equipment price the change in kilowatt-hours. When the new figure is higher, energy is a cost and comes off the total. Downtime today and Downtime, new are hours per year. The sheet prices the change. A blank Downtime today uses the age and condition table. Downtime, new starts at 20 hours. That 20 is a worksheet assumption, not a published downtime rate.

Capacity gain counts only with Capacity margin. Quality improvement counts only with Quality value. The robotics preset sets Current loss to 8 and Yield points recovered to 0. Current loss is a worksheet assumption. Yield points stay at zero unless product is actually recovered.

On the worksheet, simple payback uses net installed cost. That is Equipment capex plus Installation plus Freight plus other one-time cost, minus rebate and salvage, and not below zero. Blank Installation is 12% of equipment cost and blank Freight is 3% once equipment cost is entered and percent assumptions are on. The table above is not that net figure.

Savings people miss

Overtime and temporary labor belong in the hours or the wage when the robot is what removes them. An open position is a cost only when the plant would have filled it. The BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, not seasonally adjusted, shows a 1.7% quits rate for nondurable goods manufacturing in August 2026. That rate is preliminary. It is context for turnover and rehiring. It is not a dollar savings.

Injury and workers' compensation exposure is context for the ergonomics line. It is not a dollar savings on this page. In 2024, the BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses rate per 100 full-time workers in NAICS 3114 was 3.3 total recordable cases (3.8 in 2023), 2.3 days away, restricted, or transferred, and 1.3 days away from work. Food manufacturing, NAICS 311, was 3.3 total recordable cases and 2.3 days away, restricted, or transferred. All private industry was 2.3 and 1.4 on those same two rates. Frozen fruit, juice, and vegetable manufacturing, NAICS 311411, was 4.5 total recordable cases. Fruit and vegetable canning, NAICS 311421, was 3.2. Employer Costs for Employee Compensation puts manufacturing workers' compensation at $0.49 an hour in June 2026, 1.0% of compensation. The worksheet includes injury savings only if you enter them.

The NIOSH Revised Lifting Equation load constant is 51 lb (23 kg). That is the maximum recommended weight under ideal lifting conditions. Real recommended weight limits are lower when cases are lifted from the floor, far from the body, twisted, or frequently. This page does not turn that limit into dollars.

Throughput and uptime count only when you measure them. Use Capacity gain with Capacity margin, or the downtime fields.

Costs people miss

Guarding and a safety risk assessment sit with the cell. The standards to name are ANSI/RIA R15.06 and ISO 10218. This page has no dollar figure for them.

Conveyors and infeed, a pallet dispenser, and stretch-wrap integration belong in installed cost when the project includes them. Put them in Equipment capex, or in Installation if that is where the quote places them. Changeovers by SKU, spare parts, and programming or support time are costs. Industrial machinery mechanics, SOC 49-9041, in NAICS 3114 had a May 2025 mean wage of $31.65 an hour and employment of 7,290. That wage is context for who maintains a cell. It is not a service-contract price. Type the contract in Maintenance, new.

Published figures

The wages are May 2025 OEWS, national. The NAICS 3114 rows are fruit and vegetable preserving and specialty food manufacturing. Hand packers, SOC 53-7064, are the wage in the labor table above. Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, SOC 53-7062, are the row for hand stacking and moving cases. Packaging and filling machine operators, SOC 51-9111, are the row when the job is tending the machine. The all-industry packer row is there for comparison. Compensation is Employer Costs for Employee Compensation for June 2026. Injury rates are the 2024 Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. The quits rate is preliminary. Data retrieved October 2026.

Use the robotics worksheet for this step. Use the processing line worksheet when the decision is the whole line, not only packing or palletizing. State electricity and the production wage the sheet fills are on the state energy and labor note. What a payback figure is, and is not, is on the defensible payback note. A vendor quote is a different document from this case.

How to use the robotics worksheet

1. 1. Set the crew and the year. Enter Headcount per shift, Hours per shift, Shifts per day, Days per week, and Weeks per year. One position-shift at 8 hours, 5 days, and 52 weeks is 2,080 hours. A seasonal plant should change Weeks per year.
2. 2. Price the wage you can defend. Wage and Burden set the loaded rate. The public reference on this page is $18.16 an hour and a 49.6% burden, which loads to $27.17. That burden is all manufacturing workers, not hand packers. Replace both fields with the plant's payroll.
3. 3. Count only hours that leave. Labor reduction is the share of person-hours that leave the payroll, or hiring or overtime the plant avoids. Moving a person to another open job is not a cut unless that job would have been filled anyway.
4. 4. Set yield to zero unless pounds are recovered. The robotics preset sets Yield points recovered to 0 on a Current loss of 8. Leave yield at zero unless product is actually recovered. Enter Capacity gain with Capacity margin, or Quality improvement with Quality value, only when you have both numbers.
5. 5. Enter the costs that come off, then equipment cost. Type Maintenance, new. Set Electricity with equipment above Electricity today when the cell adds kilowatt-hours. Replace the 20-hour Downtime, new assumption if you have a measured figure. Equipment capex has no default. Payback, NPV, and IRR stay blank until it is entered. Blank Installation is 12% of that cost and blank Freight is 3%.

Run it on the worksheet

• Food plant robotics ROI
• Processing line ROI calculator
• State energy and labor costs
• What a defensible payback looks like
• Vendor quote vs. ROI case
• Methodology, sources, and exclusions

Questions

Sources

Data retrieved October 2026.

• BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. May 2025 OEWS, national, industry-specific estimates, NAICS 311400. SOC 53-7064 series OEUN000000031140053706401 (employment), OEUN000000031140053706403 (mean hourly), OEUN000000031140053706408 (median hourly). SOC 53-7062 series OEUN000000031140053706201, OEUN000000031140053706203, OEUN000000031140053706208. SOC 51-9111 series OEUN000000031140051911101 and OEUN000000031140051911103. SOC 49-9041 series OEUN000000031140049904101 and OEUN000000031140049904103. All-industry SOC 53-7064 series OEUN000000000000053706403 and OEUN000000000000053706408.
• BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation. Private industry, manufacturing, June 2026 (2026 Q2). Total compensation CMU2013000000000D. Wages and salaries CMU2023000000000D and CMU2023000000000P. Total benefits CMU2033000000000D and CMU2033000000000P. Workers' compensation CMU2273000000000D and CMU2273000000000P.
• BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. 2024 incidence rates per 100 full-time workers, private industry. NAICS 3114 total recordable cases ISUMFG31140031100, DART ISUMFG31140032100, days away from work ISUMFG31140033100. NAICS 311 total recordable cases ISUMFG31100031100 and DART ISUMFG31100032100. All private industry total recordable cases ISU00000000031100 and DART ISU00000000032100. NAICS 311411 ISUMFG31141131100. NAICS 311421 ISUMFG31142131100.
• BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Quits rate, nondurable goods manufacturing, not seasonally adjusted, August 2026, preliminary. Series JTU320000000000000QUR.
• NIOSH Applications Manual for the Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation. DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 94-110. Load constant 51 lb (23 kg), the maximum recommended weight under ideal lifting conditions.