Design perfect welds. Optimize parameters. Stabilize welding production.
For over 25 years, SORPAS® has been trusted as a welding simulation tool by most global OEMs. Now, the new capabilities in digital optimizations are also empowering Tier-1 suppliers to deliver welding production excellence.
In the early 2000s, as automotive manufacturing accelerated toward lighter and more complex materials, traditional weld developments by “trial-and-error” became too slow and costly. That’s when SORPAS® entered the scene.
In automotive manufacturing, every weld matters. Any weak joint can slow production, increase scrap, raise costs, and compromise quality. For over 25 years, SORPAS® has given engineers and manufacturers the confidence to get it right the first weld.
SORPAS® is widely used by auto makers and steel producers worldwide.
SORPAS® Digital Optimizations of Spot Welding won the Gold Trophy of the IF Digital Award 2025, powered by SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN and IndustryFusion Foundation, at the Essen Welding Fair, 15-19 September 2025, Messe Essen, Germany.
Applications and Benefits in Automotive Industry
In an era of lighter materials, stricter tolerances, and higher production pressure, manufacturers can’t afford trial-and-error approaches any longer. For spot welding, digital optimizations are not optional, but necessary to saving time, reducing costs, and achieving superior quality. Whether you’re an OEM launching new global platforms or a Tier-1 supplier striving to outperform competitors, SORPAS® is the digital brainpower for your spot welding excellence.
Automotive OEMs
Applications:
- Simulations for fewer prototypes and faster launches.
- Digital optimizations for global production consistency.
Benefits:
- Faster time-to-market for new models.
- Global consistency across platforms and plants.
- Reduced launch risk through virtual validation.
- Improved OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness).
Tier-1 Suppliers
Applications:
- Simulations for pre-order validation & planning with fewer trials.
- Digital optimizations for stabilizing each production line.
Benefits:
- Better OEM quality scores and audit readiness.
- Lower cost per part through scrap, downtime reduction.
- Faster response to OEM engineering changes.
- Stable, high-throughput welding production.
The Three Core Technologies of SORPAS®
With continuous innovations and global industrial applications, SORPAS® is developed on three core technologies:
- Welding Simulation – Trusted by OEMs over 25 years
- Digital Optimization – State-of-the-art
- Digital Twin – Next generation
Born as a welding simulation tool, SORPAS® predicts weld quality before a single weld is made – cutting costly trials and speeding approvals. Now, it’s more than just simulation: the digital optimizations can recommend production-ready optimal parameters for each weld, balancing quality, robustness, and electrode life. Today, SORPAS® is being further developed on the next generation technology – digital twins – for analyzing live process data to detect wear and drift, track KPI, and alert potential issues before they impact production.
How These Technologies Applied in Real World Spot Welding Production
We can first look at the entire welding production lifecycle in three stages: pre-production, welding production, and post-production. Then we can see how these core technologies of SORPAS® – Simulation, Digital Optimization, and Digital Twin – can be applied according to individual needs:
- Pre-Production – Design and plan right the first weld
- Design & Engineering: Simulation is applied to evaluate material weldability, joint design, and predict weld quality and performance before any physical trials.
- Pre-Production Planning: Digital Optimization is applied to determine the optimal welding process parameters – reducing trial-and-error tests and ensuring readiness for production.
- Welding Production – Keep production stable, quality consistent
- Stability Enhancement: Digital Optimization is applied to eliminate systematic variations – maintaining stable production and robust process parameters due to changes across shifts and material variations.
- Real-Time Dynamics: Digital Twins (under development) will be applied to minimize random drifts – keeping consistent quality by tracking dynamic process behavior, detecting parameter drift, monitoring welding KPIs, alerting potential issues, and supporting adaptive controls.
- Post-Production – Prove weld quality and performance
- Weld Quality Evaluation: Simulation is applied to assess weld quality, properties, and possible defects without destructive testing.
- Performance Verification: Simulation is applied to simulate welded joint behavior under real-world conditions, proving performance, weld strength, and potential failure modes.
The chart below shows a visual guide on how each stage of the welding production can be enhanced by the three core technologies of SORPAS®.
When the Digital Twins are fully functioning, the chart below shows the full, real-time integration of all three SORPAS® technologies in spot welding production with especially the interactive coupling between Digital Optimizations, Digital Twins, and the dynamic welding production. Spot welding production will be transformed with SORPAS® digitally bridging from the design engineering to the welding production through accurate simulations, automated digital optimizations, and real-time digital twins. From the first design to the last weld on the production line, SORPAS® brings quality, speed, efficiency, reliability, and certainty to every welded joint.
1. Welding Simulation – Established over 25 years
– Know before welding
Armed with finite element modeling, the Simulation technology is the cornerstone of SORPAS® and the foundation of Digital Optimizations and Digital Twins technologies.
Welding simulation gives engineers the ability to virtually test weld designs and welding parameters long before touching a production line. By simulating a welding process with current, force, time, and material combinations, SORPAS® predicts the nugget size, indentation, weld properties, and weld strengths with unmatched accuracy. This meant fewer prototypes, faster PPAP approvals, and more confidence in weld performance – a digital software tool trusted by most global OEMs.
Purpose: validate designs virtually, and cut down physical trials.
Highlights:
- Predict nugget size, indentation, and weld properties
- Evaluate stack-ups (AHSS, aluminum, coated steels)
- Explore effects of current, force, time, and polarity
- Reduce try-outs, accelerate PPAP, and tighten tolerances
Outcome: fewer prototypes, faster launch, stronger first-weld-right.
2. Digital optimization – State-of-the-art
– Get best parameters, robust
Digital Optimizations of spot welding have advanced the simulation intelligence directly to production needs. By analyzing part geometry, stack-up materials, and electrode conditions, SORPAS® can automatically recommend the optimal parameters tailored to each weld.
Purpose: find optimal welding schedule for quality, robustness, and low cost.
Highlights:
- Multi-objective optimizations (quality – stability – electrode life)
- Auto-tuned parameter settings per weld and material variants
- Robustness checks against line variations (electrical, mechanical)
- Generate ready-to-run welding process schedules
Outcome: lower scrap, stable processes, extended electrode life.
3. Digital twin — Next generation
– Monitor every weld, track KPI – (underdevelopment)
SORPAS® is being further developed on the next generation Digital Twins technology for spot welding. While full closed-loop integration into welding production is still on the roadmap, SORPAS® has first started on leveraging live process data – such as current, dynamic resistance, and electrode force etc – to make health and drift analytics for recorded welding operations.
Purpose: live virtual replica of welding lines for prediction, monitoring, and adaptive control.
Highlights:
- Acquire controller/PLC data (current, force, dynamic resistance etc)
- Detect drift, predict electrode wear, flag expulsion tendencies
- Recommend adjustments within limits, support closed-loop controls
- Score KPI for every weld (quality score, OEE, scrap rate)
- Live dashboards & alerts for quality, and maintenance window
Outcome: fewer surprises, fewer stoppages, more good joints.
SORPAS® Software System
SORPAS® Software Products:
- 2D.welding – for spot welding optimizations
- 2D.joining – for mechanical joining (SPR etc.)
- 2D.hybrid – for combined processes
- 3D.welding – for resistance welding
- 3D.testing – for weld strength testing
Add-on modules
- Excel batch – for massive welding optimizations
- 2D3D.link – from 2D.welding / 2D.joining to 3D.testing
Our Flagship Software Product for Automotive Industry
SORPAS® 2D.welding is our flagship software product for automotive industry. It is the original software that we first developed as the foundation to establish our SWANTEC company.
It has been trusted by global OEMs over 25 years with reliable functions generally applied for simulations of resistance welding processes. It is also the engine behind the powerful Digital Optimizations of Spot Welding. It is being further developed to enable the next generation Digital Twins.
Today, following the lead of OEMs, an increasing number of Tier-1 suppliers are adopting Digital Optimizations of Spot Welding to enhance welding production stability, ensure weld quality, and reduce time and costs in production maintenance.
Other Software Products for Electrical as well as Automotive Industry
SORPAS® 2D.joining is applied mainly in automotive and aerospace industries for mechanical joining of sheets:
- Self-piercing riveting (SPR)
- Clenching
- Solid riveting
- Blind riveting
SORPAS® 3D.welding is applied for more complicated welding processes including:
- Electrical applications:
- Battery tab welding – connecting batteries
- Fusing – hot staking – joining wire to terminal
- Brazing – joining electrical contacts
- Wire welding – cross wires and wire to plate
- Parallel gap welding – joining small parts
- Automotive applications:
- Multiple spot welds – shunt effect and distance between welds
- Hat channel welding – profile of sheet to sheet
- Electrode misalignment- angle and off-centering
- Gap between sheets – un-parallel sheets
- Projection welding – special geometry of parts
- Nut welding – square nut, hex nut
- Seam welding – rotational electrode wheels
SORPAS® 3D.testing is applied for simulations of welding strength tests:
- Tensile test
- Tensile shear test
- Cross tension test
- Peel test
- KSII test
- Bending test