Cost justification of a robotics project. A company has designed a system to automate an assembly operation. The costs are as follows: three robots, $105,000; a vision system, $7,500; three cameras, $1,500; associated hardware for the robot, $1,500; fixtures and hardware, $45,000. It is estimated that no new maintenance is required for maintenance and preventive maintenance. Training will cost approximately $12,000. The assembly cell will free up four of five employees to do other work. The average cost of each worker, including fringe benefits, is $27,000. The system’s productivity and quality improvements should save the company $14,000 each year. The company believes that the system will be used for three years. What is the payback period? If the company requires a payback of 18 or fewer months, should the project be undertaken?