Sparklike: Calculate the ROI of Automated Inline Gas Fill Rate Measurement for Sealed Units

Every insulating glass manufacturer knows that the gas fill rate of sealed units affects thermal performance, product claims and warranty exposure. What is harder to see is what quality control actually costs today, and what it would cost with automated inline measurement. The new Sparklike Laser Integrated ROI calculator puts those numbers side by side, using your own production data.

Why quality control costs are easy to underestimate

Manual gas fill checks take operator time on every shift, and sample-based checks leave most sealed units unmeasured. Units that fail inspection late in the process lead to rework. Units that leave the factory with an insufficient gas fill rate can return years later as warranty claims.

These costs are spread across departments and budgets, so they rarely appear as one figure. In the cost of quality model, rework and scrap are internal costs, while returns and warranty claims are external costs. Investing in prevention and appraisal reduces both. Read more in 7 Ways to Reduce Manufacturing Related Quality Costs.

The ROI calculator brings these together, so production, quality and finance teams can evaluate an investment on the same basis.

How the calculator works

The calculator guides you through four steps:

1. Current QC labour costs. Enter how much time your team spends on gas fill measurement and what that time costs.
2. Warranty and defect costs (optional). Add data on rework, scrap and warranty claims related to gas fill. You can skip this step if the figures are not available.
3. Device investment. Enter the investment details for Sparklike Laser Integrated.
4. ROI summary. Review the savings, payback period and five-year outlook.

Default values are included for every input, so you can see an example result immediately and then replace the defaults with your own figures.

Two views of the result: conservative and full

The summary shows two estimates:

• Conservative estimate: based only on QC labour savings from Step 1. With the default values, this shows a payback period of around 2.5 years.
• Full estimate: adds the warranty and defect savings from Step 2, for a more complete picture of the financial impact.

The summary also includes a payback progress bar, a five-year savings chart and a breakdown of each cost category. You can save the results of ROI of automated gas measurement as a PDF to share internally or attach to an investment proposal.

Transparent assumptions

The calculator uses default values. For example, the default argon cost is EUR 0.02 per unit, based on a European argon price of approximately EUR 0.62/kg and approximately 0.03 kg of argon for a 1 m x 1 m unit with a 16 mm cavity. Every default can be adjusted to match your own prices and unit sizes.

Not sure whether your glass configurations can be measured with laser technology? Check your glass configuration.

About Sparklike Laser Integrated

Sparklike Laser Integrated measures the gas fill rate of sealed units directly on the production line, using non-destructive TDLAS (Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy) technology. Measurement becomes part of the process instead of a separate sampling task. The system was first introduced as Laser Online at glasstec 2018.

Read how EDL Glass invested in Sparklike Laser Integrated to strengthen quality assurance.

Calculate your ROI of automated gas measurement

Open the ROI calculator

Would you like to review the results with our team? Contact Sparklike to discuss your production setup and measurement needs.