Labour hours are only part of the equation. Water, consumables, coverage consistency and audit reporting change the payback maths significantly.
Most ROI models start and stop with labour hours saved. That understates the case in a distribution centre, because manual cleaning rarely achieves full coverage in the first place.
Start with the honest baseline: how many square feet actually get scrubbed per night today, not how many are scheduled. In most facilities we survey, the answer is between 40% and 60% of the intended area.
Then add the second-order effects. Consistent floor cleanliness reduces dust on scanning equipment and product, reduces slip incidents, and produces documented coverage for customer audits.
Finally, include the base station. Without automatic water refill and discharge, a person has to service the robot between runs, and roughly a third of the labour saving disappears.
Typical payback periods we observe in warehouses above 200,000 sq ft are between 9 and 16 months.
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We will run the same analysis on your facility and share the numbers.
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