Packaging labour cost index: where automation pays back fastest in 2026
· Sales Team · Industry Insights
At current wage levels, a semi-automatic carton sealer pays back in about 1 month in Poland and 2 months in Vietnam. We published the calculation method.
Buyers often ask for a payback number. Instead of quoting a marketing figure, here is the method we use, so you can run it with your own data.
Payback months = machine price ÷ (operators replaced × monthly wage × 12 ÷ 12 + consumable savings). For a SEAL-700 replacing one of two packers on a single shift, at a 900 EUR monthly wage, the number works out to about one months in Central Europe.
The variable that changes the answer most is not wage level but shift pattern. A three-shift operation pays back roughly three times faster than a single shift on the same machine.
We are happy to run this calculation on your numbers before you buy. Send us your line layout, headcount and shift pattern through the contact form.