What kinds of manufacturing lines do you work on?

Any of them. We work with manufacturers of any size and any industry — food, consumer products, industrial, you name it. If you've got a line, we can look at it.

Do you only do new automation, or do you support existing equipment?

Both. A lot of our work is fixing, maintaining, and getting more out of equipment that's already on your floor — not just selling you something new. If your current setup can be improved without a full overhaul, that's usually where we start.

What is your service area?

Northern Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Southern Maine.

How fast can you get to us in an emergency?

We handle emergency troubleshooting and repair — mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, and hydraulic — and we respond fast when a line is down. Reach out and we'll get you a real timeframe based on where you're located and what's going on.

How does pricing work — project-based, hourly, retainer?

Initial consults and sales calls are free. Engineering and design work is billed at $175/hr, troubleshooting and repair at $150/hr, and travel at $125/hr. Equipment, materials, and consumables are quoted separately based on the job.

Do you offer preventive maintenance programs?

We can, but it's not the core of what we do — we're primarily an on-call resource for when your in-house team is stuck or stretched thin. Scheduled maintenance is available in special cases if that's a better fit for your operation.

What consumables do you supply, and can you match what we currently use?

Labels, tapes, and shrink films, primarily through Decker Tape Products. That covers everything from basic box-sealing tape to hazard labels, pallet protection, and specialty security tape. We can match your current specs or help you source the right product for a new application. Reordering works either on-call or on a subscription schedule.

Can you work around our production schedule so we don't lose runtime?

Yes — that's part of what we plan for during the design phase. We work with you to figure out timing, floor space, and personnel needs before anything gets installed, and phase in bigger changes so you're not stuck shutting the whole line down at once.

What does a typical project look like from first call to running line?

It starts with a site visit — we walk the floor, look at your current process, production speeds, and where you're headed. From there we usually flag quick wins before getting into bigger design work. Once we agree on goals, we move into sourcing equipment, coordinating with vendors, and building anything custom that's needed. Then it's delivery, installation, commissioning, and training your team on the new setup.

Do you build custom machines, or only install off-the-shelf equipment?

Both. We'll always look for the simplest off-the-shelf solution first. But when nothing off-the-shelf solves the problem, we design and build custom equipment to fit.

How long does a custom build take?

It depends. Off-the-shelf integrations tend to move fast. Custom builds involve some R&D, and that part is genuinely variable — some go smoothly, others take a few iterations to get the process right. We'll be upfront with you about where a project stands and won't promise a fixed timeline we can't back up.

What if our product needs to stay "handmade" or keep a certain identity?

We build that into the design requirements from the start. If part of what makes your product special has to stay done by hand, we figure out exactly what that means — what has to stay manual and what can be automated — before we design anything.

Do you help with factory layout, not just individual machines?

Yes — we design the flow of product through your facility, from raw goods coming in to finished product ready to ship. That includes organizing maintenance tool rooms and repair part storage, not just the production line itself.

We're short-staffed and can't find enough help — can automation actually solve that?

Often, yes. A lot of our projects start exactly there — a client can't find enough people to run a manual process, and automating it frees up the staff they do have for higher-value work.

What if we just want to get more out of the equipment we already have?

That's a common starting point. Sometimes it's a simple flow fix — for example, moving product straight from where it's made into packaging instead of dropping it into a bin that then has to be re-sorted. Small changes like that can meaningfully increase throughput without buying new equipment.

Do you require a deposit or commitment before starting design work?

Yes — once we've done the initial site visit and identified quick wins and design goals, we need a financial commitment to move into detailed design, sourcing, and custom build work.

What size manufacturer do you typically work with?

Our sweet spot is 10 to 250 line employees, but we work with smaller shops that are growth-minded and larger operations too — even if they've got some in-house capability already.

Who typically reaches out to you — do we need to already know exactly what we need?

Not at all. We hear from CEOs, plant managers, operations managers, maintenance managers, and sometimes safety or HR staff dealing with an ergonomic or hazard issue. You don't need a fully scoped project — a lot of engagements start with 'something's not working right' or 'we think there's a better way to do this.'

Will bringing in automation mean cutting jobs?

Not necessarily — a lot of our projects are about freeing up staff for higher-value work, not replacing them, especially for manufacturers who are already struggling to find enough labor. Worth talking through your specific situation so we can be straight with you about what a project would actually mean for your team.

How do we know this will actually pay off?

Fair question, and not one we'll dodge. We can walk through the numbers with you — current costs, expected efficiency gains, and a realistic timeline — before you commit to anything. The initial consult is free specifically so you can get real answers before spending anything.

What Unplanned Downtime Actually Costs a Small Manufacturer

Name: AutoIC LLC
Telephone: 603-748-6216
Price range: $$

Ken deAlmeida

7/14/20263 min read

Every plant manager knows unplanned downtime is expensive. Fewer have actually sat down and calculated the real number — and when they do, it's almost always higher than they expected. "The line was down for four hours" sounds like a bad afternoon. Once you add up labor, lost production, and the ripple effects afterward, it's often a bad month.

Here's how to actually calculate what downtime costs your operation, and why that number matters more than it might seem in the moment.

The obvious cost: lost production

Start with the simplest number — how much product would you have made in the time the line was down? If your line normally produces 500 units/hour and it's down for 4 hours, that's 2,000 units you didn't make. Multiply that by your margin per unit (not your full sale price — what you actually would have profited), and you've got your first real number.

This is the cost most people think of first, and it's usually the smallest piece of the total.

The cost people forget: labor paid for zero output

While the line is down, your people are often still on the clock. Depending on your setup, that might mean:

Line operators standing around waiting for a fix
Maintenance or engineering staff pulled off other priorities to troubleshoot
Supervisors and managers spending their time on the crisis instead of running the plant

Illustrative example: Say 6 people are earning an average of $22/hour and the line is down for 4 hours. That's 6 × $22 × 4 = $528 in labor paid for zero output — on top of the lost production. It adds up fast, and it's money spent whether the fix takes 20 minutes or 4 hours, which is exactly why a fast response matters as much as a correct one.

The cost that compounds: the ripple effect afterward

A downed line doesn't just cost you the hours it's down — it costs you the recovery. Orders that were supposed to ship today are now late. Downstream processes that were waiting on this line's output get delayed too. If you're running tight on labor already, catching back up might mean overtime, which is yet another cost stacked on top of the original event.

This is the part of the math that's hardest to estimate precisely, but it's often the largest piece of the real total — a four-hour stoppage can easily cost you a full day or more of knock-on disruption once shipping delays and catch-up scheduling are factored in.

The cost that's hard to put a number on: relationships

If downtime causes a late shipment to a customer, that's a conversation you have to have — and repeated lateness is exactly the kind of thing that pushes a customer to start quietly shopping around for a backup supplier. This one doesn't show up on a spreadsheet, but plant managers who've had that conversation know it's real.

Putting it together

Using the numbers above as a simple illustration — a 4-hour unplanned stoppage might look like:

Lost production (2,000 units × margin): varies by product, but often the largest line item at scale
Labor paid for zero output: ~$528 (using the example above)
Recovery/ripple costs (overtime, delayed shipments): often equal to or greater than the direct hours lost

Even a conservative estimate on a mid-size line often lands in the thousands of dollars for a single afternoon. Multiply that by how often unplanned stoppages happen in a given year, and the total is usually enough to justify serious investment in prevention — even for operations that feel too lean to spend on "nice to have" maintenance work.

What this means for how you plan

The point of doing this math isn't to make you anxious about your equipment — it's to put a real number next to a decision that often gets made on gut feeling. Two decisions in particular get clearer once you've done the math:

How fast should your response time be when something does break? If an hour of downtime costs you real money, then who you call and how fast they can get there isn't a minor detail — it's a direct line to your bottom line.

Is preventive maintenance worth the cost? Preventive maintenance isn't free, but it's almost always cheaper than the downtime it prevents. Once you know your real downtime cost, that comparison usually isn't close.

What to do with this number

You don't need a perfect number — a rough one is enough to make better decisions. If you haven't calculated your own downtime cost, it's worth 20 minutes to do the version above with your real numbers. It tends to change how a stoppage gets treated — from "we'll deal with it when it happens" to "this is worth planning around."

Have a specific situation you're weighing — repair vs. replace, or whether preventive maintenance makes sense for your operation? Check out our FAQ page for quick answers, or get in touch for a free consult.

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ken@autoicllc.com

603-748-6216