Retrofits fail when they start with the robot instead of the bottleneck. After 200-plus retrofit projects, we look for five signals before recommending one.

1. A repeating downtime signature. If the same station tops the Pareto chart three months running, automation has a target worth hitting. 2. Manual handling of parts over 15 kg. Injuries and fatigue-driven quality drift both trace back to heavy manual transfers. 3. Quality escapes at visual inspection. Human inspectors fade after 20 minutes; cameras don’t. 4. Changeover eating more than 10% of shift time. Recipe-driven tooling can turn an hour of wrench time into a barcode scan. 5. A hiring req that has been open six months. If you can’t staff the station, automate the station.

Two or more signals? A one-day line audit will tell you whether the numbers close. Most of our retrofits pay back inside 24 months — and the audit costs you a day, not a deposit.