Manufacturing operations are under constant pressure to deliver more with less, making cobot solutions a fast track to measurable gains, especially for multi-site operations. Whether you’re overseeing five plants or fifty, there’s a growing body of proof: cobots can increase output and accelerate ROI without compromising safety or requiring months of disruptive changes.
Drawing from real-world experience in multi-site deployments, here’s how manufacturers are making cobots work—and how you can too.
1. Start with simplicity: Identify low-hanging fruit
In large operations, not every site has the same readiness or constraints. Leading manufacturers begin with the simplest, highest-impact projects. They walk the floor, looking for:
- Bottlenecks in repetitive tasks (like pick-and-place)
- Tasks where adding a cobot doesn’t require major line redesigns
A former global automation lead from a 20+ site manufacturer summed it up well: “We prioritized what could be done quickly with minimal modification—even if ROI wasn’t the absolute highest—because speed to deployment mattered.”
Use line walks with your engineering team and build a shortlist of cobot-ready tasks. Rank them by:
- Complexity
- Estimated integration time
- Expected production gain
2. Simulate the gain before you automate
One thing decision-makers consistently need is quantifiable, site-specific data. You don’t need advanced modeling software to simulate gains—get scrappy:
- Run manual simulations with operators mimicking cobot speed and rhythm for a few hours.
- Use cardboard or 3D-printed mockups to recreate workstation layouts.
- If you have test cells or labs, simulate full lines with mock cobots and sensors to clock real-world cycle times.
This gives you credible estimates of potential production increases—often ranging from 5% to 30%, depending on the application.
3. Measure again, and see ROI improve
Here’s something many manufacturers discover after the fact: ROI often looks even better a few months after installation. Why?
Because cobots deliver more consistent performance than initial human-simulated estimates can capture. Once deployed, you can track production data from your ERP or QA systems—and many sites report that the actual gains outpace the conservative estimates used in the original business case.
One multi-site manufacturer noted, “We always estimated gains conservatively, but after three months, actual output was 10–15% higher than expected. The real ROI blew away our model.”
The takeaway? Don’t stop at estimating ROI—plan to re-measure it after deployment. It strengthens your case for scaling across other sites.
4. Build the business case with Lean Robotics principles
Lean Robotics teaches us to minimize integration time by clearly separating the phases of design, integration, and operation. In multi-site deployments, this method becomes even more powerful:
- Design once, deploy many: Develop modular solutions you can clone across sites with minimal adjustments.
- Shorten integration cycles: Favor projects where your integration can happen in weeks, not months.
- Track performance post-deployment: Monitor ROI in real-time using production metrics pulled from the ERP or QA systems.
One manufacturer achieved sub-1-year ROI on more than half their deployments by tightly aligning with Lean Robotics methods—and reinvested those gains into scaling faster.
5. Get fast approvals with clear ROI projections
Decision-makers aren’t just looking for cost savings—they want production increases they can bank on. The tipping point? When ROI falls under 12 months, projects often get greenlit with minimal resistance.
Here’s what to include in your proposal:
- Estimated production increase (conservative range, e.g., 5–10%)
- Cycle time improvements
- Labor impact (reassignment or reduction—not just headcount savings)
- Expected payback time in months
Want a shortcut? Try Robotiq’s free Cobot ROI Calculator to plug in your own numbers. You’ll get an instant estimate to validate your case with stakeholders.
6. Think big, start smart
When you’re responsible for multiple factories, a cobot strategy can’t be one-size-fits-all. But it can be systematic. Identify repeatable applications, develop standard kits, and align local site managers behind simple metrics: productivity, safety, and speed.
And remember: with the right planning, your first successful deployment is just the beginning. Most of the companies we see start with one site and scale fast—because the results speak for themselves.
Ready to explore your own ROI?
Use our Cobot ROI Calculator to see how fast your operation could benefit—whether you manage one site or twenty.
