Promess was formed as a Michigan Corporation in 1984 to provide the manufacturing industry with in-process monitoring systems. Specializing in force and torque monitoring applications Promess quickly developed a worldwide reputation for supplying state-of-the-art, turnkey sensing and test systems.

In 1989 Promess entered the motion control arena developing a fully electric, ball screw assembly press with built in force monitoring. This was a first step in using process data measured in real time to close the loop on motion control.