The baseline is not the business case.
The post's $75k-$80k figure is an input range, not a verdict. Installed cost, productive use, maintenance, consumables, financing, quality, throughput, and transition costs decide the outcome.
$75k-$80kThe robot welder math, with every assumption exposed.
Start with the post's stated $75,000-$80,000 annual US employer-cost range. Then pressure-test capex, utilization, operating cost, productivity, and payback on your terms.
Source grounding: original post by @MinusWells. The $75k-$80k figure is reproduced from that post, not independently verified here.Build the ownership case.
The source post supplies one baseline claim. Everything else is yours to edit. Values are saved in this browser so a scenario survives reload.
Decision output
Net impact over horizon$458,500
After installed cost over 5 years
Annual labor baseline$155,000
2.00 equivalent welders covered
Annual robot operating cost$27,300
Maintenance plus productive operating hours
Net annual savings$127,700
Before financing, tax, downtime, and retraining
Simple payback1.41 years
Break-even utilization: 25.1%
Representative scenario loaded
Every dollar remains visible.
The exported file includes assumptions, formulas, outputs, provenance, and caveats. It is designed for review, not persuasion by omission.
CSVCoverage
Utilization and productivity cap the equivalent labor baseline the robot can plausibly cover.
Payback
Installed cost divided by positive annual savings. No savings means no finite payback.
Break-even
The utilization needed for annualized capital and operating costs to meet covered labor value.
Pressure-test the claim.
A strong capital request survives uncomfortable questions. Open each lens before the model leaves your desk.
What work is actually automatable?
Separate repeatable weld sequences from fit-up, programming, fixturing, inspection, rework, and high-mix tasks. Only credit the model for coverage you can operationally achieve.
What happens outside the happy path?
Add expected downtime, maintenance response, consumables, changeovers, training, and ramp time before this becomes a board-ready cash flow.
Where does labor move?
Automation can shift work toward programming, quality, maintenance, material handling, and higher-variability welds. Model displaced cost only when the role truly leaves the cost base.
“The model is useful when the skeptic can change every assumption.”
This tool does not claim to quote a robot, integration package, or live labor market. It turns supplied assumptions into inspectable arithmetic.
Take the full scenario into the room.
The CSV carries the useful result, not a screenshot: inputs, computed outputs, source note, and caveats in one reviewable artifact.