Skip to content
Thermal Partner for Leading System Integrators

For 80 years, the reference infrared expertise for your industrial machines

Sopara provides OEMs and system integrators with the most demanding infrared thermal building block on the market — high-performance, reliable and fully documented — so that the machine you deliver keeps its promises in every cycle.

Talk to an expert
Your Challenges, Our Commitment

Building a high-performance machine is difficult. Guaranteeing its performance at every end client, on every site, in every production condition, is even harder.
Tight specifications, evolving materials, increasingly stringent regulations: every day, we support the OEMs and system integrators who cannot afford a thermal approximation.

80 years of expertise in the service of your machines’ performance and commercial success.

Performance
& Precision

Thermal homogeneity, throughput, repeatability: end clients impose ever-increasing levels of demand on every stage of the process, including thermal.

Materials
Evolution

High-performance thermoplastics, waterborne paints, complex composites: each new generation requires pushing thermal processes further and innovating the embedded technology building blocks.

Compliance
& Traceability

ATEX, process qualification, thermal documentation, CE compliance: regulatory requirements have become market access conditions in most industrial sectors.

Performance
Responsibility

The system integrator is contractually committed to the overall performance of their line. Every technology building block — and therefore every supplier — must be selected with care: their reliability is what engages the integrator’s responsibility.

High-Performance Infrared for Your Machines

Since 1942, Sopara has designed and manufactured high-performance infrared emitters for system integrators and OEMs. Mastery of all three wavelengths, patented innovation, modular offering: expertise at the service of your machines’ performance.

    01

    Thermal Mastery

    The right technology choice

    Before any recommendation, Sopara analyses the product, the process and the end client’s constraints. You integrate the right technology first time, without costly iteration.

    • Short, medium and long-wave infrared mastered
    • Every material has its wavelength. Sopara chooses the right one.
    • Wavelength mix possible on a single process
    • Systematic product-process analysis before any recommendation
    • Sizing optimisation: up to 60% power saved at equivalent performance

    02

    Emitter Performance

    Less after-sales service, more peace of mind

    Emitters 100% tested before dispatch, unmatched response times, documented reliability. What you deliver keeps its promises in the long term.

    • Radiation efficiency of 80 to 95%
    • Response time of a few seconds vs. 2 to 5 minutes for standard technologies
    • Up to 40% energy saving at equivalent performance
    • 100% of emitters tested before dispatch
    • ISO 9001 certification
    Discover the RadiantLine™ range

    03

    Innovation & Patent

    A technological lead that becomes yours

    A knowledge base built on 80 years of multi-sector testing and an unrivalled patented emitter. By integrating Sopara, you embed in your machines a technology that your competitors cannot replicate.

    • MIR HP Aero V5: the first medium-wave IR emitter without peripheral cold zones, patent filed
    • Carbon-PEEK heating to 450°C in 5 minutes, precision to ±10°C
    • Deployed on the world’s largest aeronautical thermoplastic composite line
    • Miniaturisation up to 66 zones/m²

    04

    Modular Offering

    You retain control of the integration level

    Emitter alone or complete solution with cabinet and multi-zone control: Sopara adapts to what your teams already master and the level of integration you wish to assume.

    • Emitters alone or pack: RadiantLine™ + ThermalCore™ regulation cabinet
    • Multi-zone control up to 132 independent zones per m²
    • Automatic fault detection in under 10 seconds
    • Thermal cycle traceability and recipe management per part
    • HMI: true-scale oven visualisation, remote supervision, 120 zones configured in under one hour
    Discover ThermalCore™

More Than a Supplier: a Partner and a Rigorous Method

Sopara is involved in the success of your machine well beyond the component. We challenge your needs, optimise your sizing, know your end clients and train your teams. Our expertise directly contributes to the competitiveness of your offering.

Discover our THERM-IQ™ method

Before any recommendation, Sopara analyses the product to be heated, its mass, its speed, its process environment. This rigour makes it possible to identify the truly optimal solution and avoid costly oversizing for your machine.

Every technology is tested, measured and documented. You receive factual data to decide and invest with confidence. Over 10,000 tests conducted in 25 years on real industrial materials and processes.

Sopara’s thermal mastery has a direct impact on your machine as a whole. Precise sizing reduces installed power, lightens the structure, simplifies cooling and reduces manufacturing costs. Your machine gains in competitiveness across all its components, not just the thermal building block.

Sopara works with the world’s most demanding manufacturers: aerospace, defence, nuclear. This depth of knowledge of process constraints, specifications and validation criteria enriches every project conducted with our system integrator partners.

Sopara does not just deliver a component — it transfers expertise. Your technical teams are trained in infrared thermal technology to understand what they are integrating, better size solutions and anticipate field issues. Qualiopi certified organisation, we have been training since 2015 with a 99% satisfaction rate.

Emitters Designed to Last

Warranty & Maintenance

Slide-out drawer for easy maintenance. Frame and drawer guaranteed against deformation and mechanical degradation. In the event of abnormal breakage within 2 years, we intervene.

Guaranteed Production Continuity

Short-wave IR tube buffer stock for immediate replacement. Flash lead time: production and delivery of a medium-wave IR drawer in 1 week. A unique service on the market.

Certified Quality

Every emitter is individually tested before dispatch. AFNOR ISO 9001 certification, manufactured in France with full traceability throughout the product’s service life.

Case Studies
and feedback

Case Study 1

Fragrance Bottle System Integrator

Waterborne paint on glass bottles

The Industrial Challenge

The transition from solvent-based to waterborne paints rendered the existing hot-air solutions inadequate. Glass bottles present complex geometries and very different masses depending on the zone: neck, body, base. A global heating approach no longer achieves the thermal homogeneity required by specifications.

The Solution Proposed

Sopara developed a differentiated multi-zone infrared system, treating each part of the bottle according to its mass and geometry. Integration of a setting-assistance camera, deployment on existing lines and pilot ovens, skills transfer to the integrator’s teams.

The Impact

3×

Heating rate 3 times faster

100%

Thermal homogeneity restored across the entire product range

100%

This integrator’s ovens standardised on the Sopara solution

Case Study 2

Leading Composite OEM

Composite lines for aerospace, energy and defence

The Industrial Challenge

A pioneer in composite manufacturing lines, this integrator had to reinvent its offering in response to the rise of aerospace, energy and defence: markets with radically higher thermal requirements than its previous solutions could no longer address.

The Solution Implemented

Sopara has supported this integrator for 30 years across the entire thermal building block of its composite manufacturing lines.

  • Training and consulting upstream of every project
  • Testing on client samples with detailed, precise reports
  • Development of new thermal concepts for the aerospace, energy and defence markets
  • High responsiveness from the quoting stage to accelerate sales cycles
  • Partner relationship throughout all phases of the business relationship

The Impact

30 years

Of continuous partnership on the composite thermal building block

3 markets

Aerospace, energy and defence addressed with a recognised technological lead

1 platform

Full-scale oven integrated into the integrator’s test platform, Sopara-equipped

Case Study 3

Leading Li-Ion Battery OEM

Electric battery production lines

The Industrial Challenge

A long-established specialist in textiles and converting, this integrator pivoted to the electric battery market 15 years ago. A demanding technological bet: micron-level precision on cathode and anode foils, and complete production lines deployed worldwide.

The Solution Implemented

Sopara has supported this integrator for 30 years across all thermal components of its machines, from legacy textile applications through to battery production lines.

  • Heating of products in continuous-pass lines
  • Heating elements embedded in rollers and cylinders
  • Tests on samples with detailed, precise reports
  • Development of new thermal concepts to meet the demands of new markets
  • High responsiveness from the quoting stage and partner relationship throughout all commercial phases

The Impact

30 years

Of continuous partnership, from textile to battery

To the micron

Thermal solutions adapted to the unrivalled demands of the Li-Ion battery market

Worldwide

Production lines deployed across the globe

Frequently Asked Questions

No. Sopara intervenes exclusively on the thermal building block (infrared in particular). We design and manufacture emitters, infrared tunnels and ovens, and regulation cabinets. The design and manufacture of complete lines, presses or textile machines remain the business of our system integrator partners. Our markets are complementary, never competing.

Yes. Our offering is modular: emitters alone, emitters with regulation cabinet, or complete solution with integrated thermal consulting. Sopara adapts to your level of integration and to what your teams already master.

Our standard lead times are announced at the start of the project and upheld as a contractual commitment. In the event of an emergency replenishment, Sopara is able to produce and deliver an emitter in one week: a lead time unique on the market for ISO 9001 certified bespoke production.

Everything starts with a product-process analysis: we go back to the product to be heated, its mass, its speed, its environment. If necessary, we carry out laboratory tests on your materials before any recommendation. The objective is to identify the truly optimal solution for your machine and your end client.

Yes. Sopara sets up a buffer stock of critical components sized according to a risk analysis, trains and certifies your technicians for Level 1 interventions, and provides remote technical support. Replacement emitters respect exactly the specifications of the validated process: your clients restart without requalification.

Sopara works particularly with system integrators in the industrial paint, thermoplastic composite and technical textile sectors. But our infrared thermal expertise has been built across dozens of different sectors and processes: aerospace, defence, nuclear, food & beverage and many others. Whatever your heating application, we have very probably already encountered similar challenges. Contact us to discuss.

Contact-us

Talk with an expert
Agro alimentaire Automobile Aéronautique Défense Énergie Aménagement intérieur Textile technique

Sopara business sectors