The Automation Roadmap

Find the automation that pays back first. Then prove it.

We walk your whole plant, rank every automation opportunity by payback, and hand you the ROI case for each one with capital and lease options side by side. It costs you nothing, and when a project is approved we deliver it turnkey.

Who this is for

“We want to automate. We're not sure of the exact areas. We don't have the expertise to walk through the entire facility and find the best opportunities with the best payback.”

If that sounds like your plant, the roadmap is the first step.

What you get

A ranked list of opportunities, each with the numbers to justify it

The roadmap is a working document your plant can act on, not a sales brochure. It is built so an operations manager can take it up the chain and get a yes.

1

The plant walk

Every line, receiving to shipping. We look for hand loading, hand packing, hand palletizing, product giveaway, inspection gaps and changeover losses, whether or not anyone has flagged them.

2

Opportunities ranked by payback

Each opportunity gets a budgetary cost, the labor and loss it removes, and a simple payback. Sorted fastest to slowest, so you know what to do first.

3

Capital and lease, side by side

Every ROI case shows the capital purchase and an equipment lease. Many lines are cash-positive from month one on a lease, which changes the conversation with finance.

4

A report you can take up the chain

Concept layouts, budgetary quotes from the OEMs, the ROI model, and the lead-time picture for your capital year. Written for the people who sign.

What it costs

Nothing. Here is how that works.

Through our vendor relationships we provide equipment at list pricing, with all of the systems engineering and project management handled by Next Tech Automation. You pay the same price for the equipment as you would have if you put in the hundreds of hours yourself.

We are paid by the equipment manufacturers out of their distributor margin. That is the whole model. There is no engineering fee for the roadmap, no retainer, and no obligation to buy anything when it is done.

Same equipment price

List pricing from the OEM. Our discount is the OEM's cost of sale, not a markup on you.

Vendor-agnostic recommendations

Two dozen vendor partners across packaging and robotics. We pick the machine that fits your product, not the one we happen to carry.

Honest when it doesn't pay

If full automation can't justify itself, the roadmap says so and looks for the semi-automated version that can.

ROI calculator

What could one line save you?

Put in the line you are staffing today. You get the annual savings, the payback, and what the same project looks like as a lease instead of a capital purchase. Every roadmap includes the full version of this model, built for your plant.

Your line today

Count only the positions the automation would replace.

$/ hour
Wage plus benefits and payroll taxes
hours
$/ year
Giveaway, scrap, rework, returns
$
Equipment, integration, installation. Not sure? Leave our estimate.
Assumptions (edit if you know yours)
%
%
$
$
% / 5 yr
months
% APR
%
% / yr
% of cost

What the numbers say

Five-year cumulative net cash

Capital purchaseEquipment lease

This is the short version.

Your roadmap builds this model for every opportunity in the plant, with your real numbers. We'll bring these inputs with you.

Request your roadmap

Estimates only. Labor savings use fully loaded cost for the positions entered; workers' comp, turnover, injury and overtime effects use the assumptions above, which you can edit. Lease figures assume a fixed-rate lease with a residual buyout at end of term. Depreciation benefit is applied to the capital purchase only.

Case study example

Fully Automated Charcuterie Line

A charcuterie producer was hand-placing four products into large trays and hand-packing the cases. The solution included robotic tray loading, count-based filling, inline label verification and robotic case packing as one system, with the full ROI case in both capital and lease form.

Read the case study
$1.49Mbudgetary investment
20positions offset across two shifts
13 moprojected simple payback

Projected figures. Customer anonymized.

After the roadmap

We deliver it, from initial concept to installed on your floor

The roadmap is step one of a turnkey project. When an opportunity is approved, Next Tech is the general contractor: one contract covering the equipment, the engineering and every OEM on the line.

1

Firm quotes and drawings

Product testing at the OEMs, firm pricing, layouts and drawings for approval.

2

Build and factory acceptance

Fabrication tracked across every supplier, with acceptance testing at each factory before anything ships.

3

Installation and commissioning

Rigging, placement, mechanical and electrical installation, controls integration between machines.

4

Startup and support

Site acceptance at rate, operator training, punch list, and support after the line is running.

Request your roadmap

Tell us about the plant

We'll reply within one business day to set up a short call, then schedule the plant walk. Most roadmaps are delivered within a few weeks of the walk, depending on how many opportunities we find and how fast the OEMs quote.

  • No fee, no retainer, no obligation to buy
  • Food plants, USDA and FDA environments, washdown rated
  • Packaging, robotics, inspection and end-of-line, any OEM

Request received. Thank you.

We'll be in touch within one business day.

We'll respond within one business day. Your information is never shared.

Common questions

What plants ask before they say yes

Is it really free?
Yes. The plant walk, the opportunity ranking, the ROI models and the report are all at no charge. We are compensated by the equipment manufacturers out of their distributor margin when a project goes ahead. You pay list price for the equipment, the same as if you bought it direct.
Do we have to buy from you afterward?
No. The roadmap is yours. Most plants do go on to run the projects with us, because the systems engineering and project management come with the equipment at no added cost. But there is no contract that says you must.
Who delivers the project?
We do. Next Tech is the turnkey general contractor: one contract covering the equipment, systems engineering, vendor coordination, installation, commissioning and startup, from initial concept to installed on your floor.
What if nothing pays back?
Then the roadmap says so. We have steered customers away from full automation when the numbers did not justify it and found a semi-automated version that did. A roadmap that recommends nothing this year is still useful: it tells you what has to change in volume or labor cost before automation makes sense.
How is the lease option calculated?
As a fixed-rate equipment lease with a residual buyout at the end of the term. The calculator above defaults to 60 months and a 20% residual; your roadmap uses current rates from the lessors we work with. We show the monthly lease payment against the monthly savings, so you can see whether the project is cash-positive from month one.
How long does it take?
The plant walk is a day. The report follows within a few weeks, driven mostly by how quickly the OEMs return budgetary quotes for the opportunities we find. If you are working to a capital-planning deadline, tell us and we will work to it.