Pinturas Rodafuerte: a refurbished robot that pays for itself in a year and a half

Of all our clients, Clemente is the only one that provides the figure people ask about most—and that no one else answers: how long it takes for the robot to pay for itself.

Pinturas Rodafuerte manufactures paint at La Roda and Albacete. It installed a bag palletizer Atlas Robots , mounted on a refurbished industrial arm, and he documented it on camera in 2020.

Project Overview

Client	Pinturas Rodafuerte
Sector	Manufacture of paints and materials
Country	Spain (La Roda, Albacete)
Cell installed	Bag palletizer
Startup	2019
Spokesperson	Clemente, manager

The Starting Point

Manual bagging and palletizing has a limit that isn't set by the machine, but by the person. As Clemente explains: someone might be able to produce six bags per minute at the start of the morning, but after two hours they're tired and their actual pace drops to half that.

That limit doesn't just restrict production: it causes the pallet to be uneven—with one row too many or too few—and that takes a toll on both the product's appearance and costs.

Results

• From 20–25 pallets per week almost 60 pallets per week
• Service of 10–15 pallets per day, which used to take two or three days
• 6 bags per minute maintained throughout the day, without losing momentum
• Cell fully amortized in a year or a year and a half
• A more uniform and better-presented pallet, with the resulting cost savings
• No positions eliminated: The worker moved on to other production tasks

I've lowered the price of the product because I can now do in one day what used to take me a month. Clemente, manager of Pinturas Rodafuerte

The figure no one mentions: amortization

The arm of this cell is a refurbished industrial robot. Clemente puts it bluntly: it provides the same performance as a new one, requires the same annual maintenance, and costs a fraction of what a new one costs. That’s why the numbers add up so quickly.

Over the course of a year or a year and a half, it has to be depreciable. And this robot is: it's fully depreciated. Clemente, manager of Pinturas Rodafuerte

A step-by-step guide to how we recondition each arm before integrating it can be found at the process REFIT.

The robot didn't replace anyone

This is the same pattern we’ve seen in the other facilities we’ve documented, and here the client explains it in terms of the specific division of labor: while the robot removes the bags, one person makes sure production doesn’t slow down, and the person who used to be at the end of the line is now doing something else.

The robot handles those six bags per minute, but it doesn't replace the person: the person has to be there. Clemente, manager of Pinturas Rodafuerte

The Full Interview

Transcript of the interview

Clemente, manager of Pinturas Rodafuerte (La Roda, Albacete). Transcript slightly edited for readability.

My name is Clemente , and my company is called Pinturas Rodafuerte. With this product, I used to ship maybe 20 or 25 pallets a week, and now I’m up to almost 60 pallets a week. Why? Because it’s easy for me to sell it. On the contrary: I’ve lowered the price of the product, because I can now do in one day what used to take me a month.

Thanks to this, you can process 10 or 15 pallets a day, whereas before it took two or three days. That helps you lower all your costs, ensures the product is always consistent, and keeps the pallet well-presented—which is very important; before, sometimes there was one extra row, sometimes one less… All of that is a bonus that, once introduced to the market, has allowed me to double sales of this type of product.

If you have someone here carrying sacks or buckets by hand, it’ll take them half the morning. If they start out carrying six sacks a minute, by the time lunch is over, they’re down to three. They work their shift and put in the hours, but they can’t keep up the six sacks they started with, because after two hours, they’re tired.

Here, the robot does produce those six bags per minute, but it doesn't replace the person: the person has to be there. While the robot is producing the bags, that person makes sure there are no gaps in production, and the person I used to have on the production line is doing something else. What I'm doing is doubling production and speeding up the packaging time.

This robot is secondhand. It performs just as well as a new one, and the annual maintenance costs are the same as for a new one. Right now, a new one costs eight times as much, while a secondhand one performs just as well and costs eight times less. Over the course of a year or a year and a half, it should pay for itself. And this robot has: it has paid for itself.

It's a shame we don't have enough space to fully automate the process: picking up the pallet, transporting it, and placing it in its designated spot in the warehouse. We'll get there eventually.

I used to work at another paint factory where everything was very rudimentary: there were no robots, there was nothing, and it took a lot of effort every day. Until I wanted to move on to a place where comfort was the top priority. Today, this has been the only solution for maintaining good harmony with your workers: they shouldn’t have to constantly wonder what needs to be done, but rather know exactly what their responsibilities are. Thanks to this kind of equipment, you can reach your goals; otherwise, it would be impossible.

I think my grandfather would see this as science fiction, like a movie, just like when we were little and watched E.T.