Syspro Torque made its public debut at IMTS 2026 in Chicago, and the demos that drew the most interest at the Syspro booth started with a visitor’s own problem. Manufacturers arrived with a margin squeeze or a compliance check that could not wait. The team built each 15-minute session around it. The same few questions came up all week, led by the one every operations leader asks before handing work to software: who approves what the AI agent does? For a manufacturer weighing an industrial AI investment this year, those questions and the answers the Syspro team gave on the floor make a practical checklist.
The rest of the show had plenty to see. The latest machine tools shared McCormick Place with a strong showing of robotics and physical AI.
On Monday and Tuesday, Crawford Software joined the team at the Syspro booth. Their team answered customer questions and helped attendees explore practical solutions tailored to their organization’s challenges and goals. On Wednesday, SDG Consulting, Inc joined the booth and spent the day discussing business process improvements, technology solutions and ERP strategies with manufacturing attendees.
The networking continued well beyond show hours. On Wednesday evening, Syspro and Nuvei hosted a cruise on Lake Michigan, bringing together customers, partners and industry peers for an evening of conversation and connection. The following night, Syspro and Lonehill Systems hosted a happy hour at Flight Club, where friendly competition and meaningful discussions kept the momentum going. Both events provided a great opportunity to strengthen relationships and continue conversations beyond the show floor.
What Syspro showed at IMTS 2026
IMTS 2026 was the first time Syspro Torque ran in front of the public. Syspro launched the platform on Sept. 2 as an industrial AI platform that finds operational problems and takes approved action on them inside the systems manufacturers already run. From the moment the floor opened on Monday, Sept. 14, the team put it to work on live examples.
The order check was the demo that visitors most often asked to see twice. The Syspro Torque Sales Order Compliance Agent runs every line of a sales order against pricing policies and credit limits, then checks shipping restrictions and inventory availability. It returns a pass or fail, and each violation cites the rule that triggered it with the source document attached. The operator decides what happens next, from releasing the order to escalating it. “Show me the order check again” was one of the most common requests at the booth.
The team also ran a smart factory model on live shop-floor data, with operational data flowing straight into decisions and an operator in control throughout. Compliance walkthroughs followed each visitor’s own framework, which kept the conversation on the rules that company has to meet.
What is industrial AI, and why did it lead the conversation at IMTS 2026?
Industrial AI is AI built to work inside a manufacturer’s operations. It reads the orders, inventory, production schedules, supplier records and shop-floor data a business already runs on. From there, it flags problems and recommends or takes the next step within that company’s own rules. Because it works from a manufacturer’s own data and policies, its output reflects how that specific plant runs. General-purpose AI tools were not designed for that.
It led the conversation at IMTS 2026 because the pressure on mid-sized manufacturers now shows up in their daily decisions. One call on the shop floor can touch suppliers, capacity, scheduling, quality and costing at once. Automation World’s coverage of the show pointed to labor shortages and tariff uncertainty as the backdrop. Physical AI, the robotics and machine intelligence that drew much of the show’s spotlight, works on the production line itself. Industrial AI supports the decisions behind the line, such as what to build next and which orders ship first. That is where attendees at the Syspro booth wanted answers.
Who approves what an AI agent does?
In Syspro Torque, a person approves every action before it runs. During each demo at IMTS, the agent completed its check and laid out the rule it applied along with its source. Then it stopped until an operator signed off. Once the team approves, Syspro Torque executes through the ERP system’s standard integration layer, with every step logged.
Syspro calls this its glass house approach. Dan Abramson, senior vice president of Americas at Syspro, described the approach to Automation World in terms of visibility. Showing customers who made each decision and what a workflow costs is a central part of how Syspro Torque stands apart, he said. The visibility extends past the approval step. Syspro Torque gives an upfront cost estimate for each workflow before it runs and tracks what each agent delivers afterward. A manufacturer can judge the return one workflow at a time.
The level of autonomy stays in the manufacturer’s hands. Creed Grimm, vice president of pre-sales at Syspro, described customers who want procurement insight served up to them. They still want their buyers making the purchasing decisions. Syspro Torque supports that position on the AI maturity curve and supports moving further along it as a team gains confidence. The manufacturer decides which decisions Syspro Torque only recommends and which it can act on once approved.
Where do the rules behind an industrial AI agent come from?
They come from the manufacturer’s own documents. Syspro Torque extracts its rules from a company’s own policies and terms, such as the credit terms and pricing policy an order has to meet. The Syspro Torque Rules Auditor Agent answers plain-English policy questions with the applicable clause, any exceptions and the source document, along with the date that document was last updated. Syspro’s Chief Solutions and Technology Officer, Chris Lloyd, explained how the rules engine and agents work together in his interview with ERP Today. At the booth, that was one of the demos the team most enjoyed running: a policy question asked out loud and answered with the source on screen.
The answer carries weight for a practical reason. In many mid-sized operations, the rules that keep the ERP system accurate live in a layer of spreadsheets. Often they also live in the head of one senior operator the business cannot afford to lose. Bringing those rules into the agent means its decisions follow the way the business already works, and every decision carries a record of the rule behind it.
Does Syspro Torque work with the ERP and systems you already run?
Yes. On the latest version of Syspro 8, Syspro Torque runs inside the Syspro Web UI through Sidekick, under the permissions operators already have. On other ERP systems and earlier Syspro versions, it deploys API-first with the same agents and rules.
Syspro Torque also connects to shop-floor and warehouse systems through Model Context Protocol (MCP) connectors, with no bespoke middleware required, according to the launch announcement. That includes legacy supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) platforms and manufacturing execution systems (MES). Reporting from IMTS, Automation World and Smart Industry both noted that the platform can work with any ERP.
For a manufacturer planning an AI project, that shrinks the custom integration work that usually slows the first deployment. The first agent can start on data the business already trusts. Syspro Torque builds on the same platform Nucleus Research named a Leader in its 2026 SMB ERP Technology Value Matrix.
What should manufacturers do after IMTS 2026?
Start the way the best booth conversations did, with one real problem. An order that keeps stalling in credit review makes a good first test, and so does a compliance check that eats hours each week. The before and after is easy to measure, and a person still approves every action. Syspro Torque is in a controlled availability program now, with general availability to follow. Because of Syspro, manufacturers can put industrial AI to work on their own rules and data, with an operator in control of every decision.
Interested in seeing how Syspro Torque can transform your operations? Register your interest for controlled availability.
Key takeaways
- Syspro Torque made its public debut at IMTS 2026 with 15-minute demos built around each visitor’s own problem.
- Industrial AI works inside a manufacturer’s operations, reading its own orders and shop-floor data and acting within its rules.
- In Syspro Torque, an operator approves every action, and the agent shows the rule it applied and its source.
- Syspro Torque draws its rules from a manufacturer’s own documents and cites the source when it answers a policy question.
- Syspro Torque connects to the ERP and shop-floor systems a manufacturer already runs. It is in a controlled availability program now, with general availability to follow.
