ProcessorROI · PlantBench
Run the equipment numbers before the capex meeting.
PlantBench is a free equipment ROI worksheet for fruit and vegetable plants, from VegTech Systems, at processorroi.com.
Definition
PlantBench estimates whether a piece of processing equipment pays back on your plant's own numbers. It adds labor savings (hours removed × loaded wage), yield recovery (pounds recovered × product value) and the change in energy cost, then divides capital by annual savings for simple payback, with a sensitivity range at half and 1.5 times the expected gains.
How it works
Put in crew hours, the yield you lose at that step today, and energy per 1,000 lb. You get annual savings split into labor, yield, and energy, plus simple payback, a five-year net, and a sensitivity range.
It runs in your browser. Nothing is saved while you edit. When the numbers hold up, download a board-ready PDF to take into the room. The figures are estimates for a capex discussion, not a design or a guarantee.
What you get
- Annual savings split into labor, yield, and energy
- Simple payback, simple ROI, and a five-year net
- Payback at half, full, and one-and-a-half times your expected gains
- A board-ready PDF to take into the meeting
What it covers
Each category opens its calculator on processorroi.com.
What it does on purpose
Energy can come out as a cost.
Some machines use more power or gas than the step they replace. That cost comes off the total.
Yield gain is capped at today's loss.
You can't recover pounds you weren't losing.
The defaults are rough on purpose.
They're labeled as assumptions. Edit them to match your plant.
What it leaves out
Maintenance, installation, freight, water, wastewater, depreciation, taxes, incentives, and the time value of money. Simple payback is for screening. When finance wants discounting, see Payback, NPV and IRR explained.
PlantBench questions
What is PlantBench?
PlantBench is a free equipment ROI worksheet for fruit and vegetable processing plants, from VegTech Systems, at processorroi.com. It turns crew hours, yield loss and energy use into annual savings, simple payback, simple ROI, a five-year net and a sensitivity range, and exports a PDF summary.
What does payback period mean?
Simple payback is the capital cost divided by annual savings: the number of years until cumulative savings equal the investment. A $200,000 project that saves $100,000 a year has a two-year simple payback. It ignores the time value of money and anything that happens after the payback point.
How is labor savings calculated?
Person-hours per shift, times shifts per day, times operating days per year, times the loaded wage, times the share of those hours you expect the equipment to remove. The loaded wage is the base wage plus burden: payroll taxes, workers' compensation and benefits.
What does yield improvement mean in the calculator?
The percentage points of input weight you expect to sell instead of lose at that step. PlantBench caps the gain at your current loss, so you can't recover pounds you weren't losing. A higher selling price belongs in the product value field, not in the yield figure.
Why can energy show up as a cost?
Some peelers, freezers, dryers and blanchers use more electricity or gas than the step they replace. PlantBench treats energy as a difference; when the new equipment uses more, that cost is subtracted from labor and yield savings.
What does PlantBench leave out?
Maintenance, installation, freight, water, wastewater, depreciation, taxes, incentives and the time value of money. It is a screening tool for a capex discussion, not a design or a guarantee. For discounting, see the guide to payback, NPV and IRR.
Does PlantBench store my numbers?
The calculator runs in your browser and stores nothing while you edit. Contact details and inputs are saved only if you download the PDF, as described on the processorroi.com privacy page.