The Business Case for Line Cameras: Questions, Not Promises

Key takeaways

• A business case for line cameras is a set of honest answers, not a promised percentage.
• The first question is whether the line is sold out. It decides what a lost hour is worth.
• On the sample line, a lost hour is worth $1,800 when sold out and $145 when the line can catch up.
• Quote only named customer results, with the number and the period.

A business case for line cameras answers the questions a CFO, a plant manager and IT will ask before anything is installed. The honest version prices losses with a rule the controller agrees, says what a camera will not do, and promises no percentage.

Fabrico, OEE and light MES software with AI cameras as an add-on, prices every loss in money. The pricing rule is agreed with the plant's controller at the pilot. Below are the questions, who asks each one, and how to answer without overselling.

Which questions come up, and who asks them?

Expect the same eight questions in most plants. Here is who usually asks, and the short honest answer.

Is the line sold out, and why does that set the price of an hour?

This question decides the whole case. The same lost hour is worth very different amounts:

• Sold out: an hour lost at the pace-setting machine is lost contribution, gone for good.
• Spare capacity: the line catches up inside the normal schedule. The hour costs only scrap, restart and call-outs.
• Caught up on overtime: the hour costs the overtime premium, scrap and energy, and a slot you can no longer sell.

Many plants are sold out only in some months, so agree the rule with the controller and apply it week by week. Our article on contribution margin per line hour shows how to work out the hourly figure.

What counts as a loss, and what does not?

Count only what changes cash:

• Lost contribution at the pace-setting machine, in sold-out weeks.
• Scrap, priced at its material cost.
• Overtime and extra shifts needed to catch up.
• Short stops and slow running. On packaging lines they are often bigger than breakdowns, and paper logs miss them.

Do not count revenue per hour, a machine hour rate with depreciation in it, or idle wages on top of contribution. Freed capacity is cash only when it sells, or cancels overtime, a shift or a planned investment. The controller decides that, not the software.

What does it cost to do nothing?

Doing nothing keeps today's losses, unranked: the stops still happen, and nobody knows which costs most.

Siemens' True Cost of Downtime 2024 report puts a lost hour at $36,000 in FMCG. FMCG was also the only sector whose downtime hours rose since 2019. That is an average for large plants, not your line, which needs its own baseline.

Many plants start from paper: 54.4% of small and medium manufacturers still run on pen and paper or spreadsheets. A paper log misses short stops, so it understates what doing nothing costs. For how a clip shortens the hunt for a cause, see our article on video replay for hidden stops.

What is one lost hour worth on a sample line, sold out or not?

Sample line (illustrative numbers, not a customer): a filling line where the filler sets the pace at 9,000 good bottles an hour. Net price $0.55 a bottle, variable cost $0.35, so contribution is $0.20 a bottle (or €0.20 in a euro plant). Seven people run the line at $30 an hour each; labour is fixed in the short run.

• Idle wages are not added in the sold-out case. Labour is fixed, so the loss is already that the paid hour made nothing.
• Sold out against spare capacity: $1,800 / $145, more than 12 to 1.
• Say the new log finds 6 hours a month of stops the old log never showed. Sold out: 6 x $1,800 = $10,800 a month. Caught up in the schedule: 6 x $145 = $870 a month.

Same minutes, same line, a twelvefold gap. A case with one "cost of downtime per hour" and no question about the order book is guessing.

What will a camera not do?

Say this early. Overselling the camera kills the case at the first site visit.

• It sees one field of view, in one lighting range: the station it points at, not the whole line.
• It does not decide the cause alone. It marks each stop and keeps the clip; the operator confirms the reason in one tap.
• It does not measure people. Cameras point at the process, and reports go by line and shift.
• It does not fix the line. It shows which stop to fix first; the plant does the fixing.

Hands, tools and steam can block the view, and a moved guide changes the scene. Our comparison of computer vision and PLC data shows where each source is stronger.

Which customer results can a vendor show you?

Ask for results with a customer name, a number and a period, on a page you can open. Fabrico quotes two:

• ABB: 20% less downtime (the ABB story).
• Ficosota: factory-wide OEE and good output, on its case page (the Ficosota story).

Those are their plants, not a forecast for yours. A vendor figure without a named customer, a baseline and a period is self-reported. Treat it that way, ours included.

Why should nobody promise you a percentage?

Because nobody knows your line yet. Three things decide the result, and none sits with the vendor:

• Your definitions. Ideal cycle time and what counts as planned time move the OEE number before any camera arrives.
• What the plant does with the data. Software shows the losses; people fix them.
• Your order book. The same hour is worth $1,800 or $145, as the sample showed.

Ask instead for a pilot on one line, with a baseline and a decision date agreed in advance. To separate the software's effect from everything else, compare with a similar line, as our guide to control lines explains. Our camera OEE pilot plan lists the steps.

What will IT and the works council ask?

IT asks where the cameras sit on the network, where video is processed and who can see clips. The works council asks whether anything can rank people.

Answer the council in writing: the process, not people, by line and shift. Answer IT per plant with the vendor's technical team before install. A pilot on one line keeps the security review small. Read more on line cameras without surveillance.

Where Fabrico fits

Fabrico is a computer vision enabled Manufacturing Performance Platform. OEE and light MES come first; cameras are an add-on where the machine signal is blind.

• Automatic downtime logging, down to short stops.
• AI cameras count output and record stops, each with a short clip as evidence.
• The operator confirms the reason in one tap.
• Every loss priced in money and ranked by money.
• OEE live by line and shift.

You start with a pilot on one line. Devices are connected in about a month, and the full rollout takes 3 to 4 months. There is no free plan and there are no tiers: each plant gets a quote. See the computer vision OEE and MES page.

Frequently asked questions

How do you build a business case for cameras on a production line?

Start with the questions, not a percentage. Agree with the controller whether the line is sold out and how a lost hour is priced. Measure a baseline, say what the camera will and will not do, and ask for a pilot on one line with a decision date.

Should the business case use revenue or contribution margin?

Contribution margin: the selling price minus the variable cost, at the machine that sets the line's pace. Revenue overstates the loss, because the material in an unmade unit was never spent. A machine hour rate with depreciation also misleads, because depreciation does not change when a labeller jams.

What if our line is not sold out?

Then most lost hours are caught up inside the normal schedule, and each one costs only scrap, restart and call-outs. The case rests on overtime saved, scrap avoided and room for a future order. Use contribution only in weeks the line is sold out.

Can a vendor promise an OEE gain?

Not honestly. The gain depends on your definitions, your order book and what the plant does with the data. A vendor can show named results from other plants, with the number and the period. For your line, ask for a baseline and a pilot with a decision date.

Bring your questions to a demo

Bring one line, its downtime log and your controller's view of the order book. We will price a lost hour on that line under both rules and show where a camera would earn its place.

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