I put forward a UR5e tray-loading pilot with a firm robot price and very vague fixture and labour costs. My colleague has stopped the proposal. Fair criticism. Can we measure enough of the manual connector-housing job first to decide whether a properly costed pilot is worth writing?
Yes. Observe a complete representative order with the operator, including preparation, interruptions and clearing away. Then get a fixture estimate against a defined variant. You'll have a baseline and a missing cost made concrete, without pretending that either proves automation will pay.