A History Forged in Industrial Exigence and Innovation

Rémi Gicquel takes over as head of Sopara, with Pierre Pinet, Yann Bizet and Fabien Dégut joining as shareholders. The ambition: to accelerate, in France and internationally. Sopara patents the MIR HP Aero V5: a unique high-performance medium-wave infrared emitter, the only one of its kind in the world, capable of heating carbon-PEEK to 450°C in five minutes, with thermal homogeneity of ±10°C. An unprecedented advance for aeronautical thermoplastic composites.

Sopara launches its industrial thermal training academy, Qualiopi-certified, with a 99% satisfaction rate. The objective: to give manufacturers the keys to understanding, anticipating and choosing. An informed client makes better investment decisions and reduces their risks. In the same movement, Sopara obtains ISO 9001 certification: workshop rigour becomes formally verifiable.

Sectoral diversification bears fruit on a global scale. With Antoine Coniglio and Pierre Pinet, Sopara achieves world firsts: composite overmoulding on fabric for Plastic Omnium and General Motors in the United States, thermoplastic winding and pultrusion. Automotive, aerospace, food & beverage, nuclear: each sector enriches the knowledge base. The testing laboratory becomes a strategic asset, with thirty years of accumulated materials tests.

Antoine Coniglio, thermal engineering graduate, takes over Sopara and makes a major strategic decision: to introduce short-wave infrared and diversify the sectors addressed. Pierre Pinet, INSA energy engineering graduate, joins in 1996. The design office is created. Sopara becomes the only company in the world to master all three wavelengths (short, medium, long) with internationally recognised thermal expertise.

The regional textile industrial fabric imposes its requirements: coating drying, fabric treatment, continuous processes. Sopara develops its first medium-wave ribbon infrared emitters to meet them. The relationship with Gerflor in Tarare begins — it continues to this day. Test by test, knowledge of materials accumulates. A base that never stops growing.

Sopara is founded in Lyon by the Raquin family, textile manufacturers. The initial activity: manufacturing electric resistance elements for gas burner igniters, hand-produced in the Croix-Rousse workshops. A deep-rooted anchor in the regional industrial fabric that forges, from the very beginning, a culture of hands-on precision manufacturing.