Domestic manufacturers reduced their new orders for metal cutting, forming, and fabricating equipment by -29.8% from December to January, according to the latest U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders report. The $357.3 million total for the month is marked by a sharp decline in demand from several industrial sectors that typically drive ordering activity for machine tools and similar capital equipment, as summarized in the monthly report by AMT - the Assn. for Manufacturing Technology.
However, AMT noted that the January 2025 order volume is 5.7% higher than the comparable figure from 2024, and 16.2% higher than the average January order volume. The trade association suggested that, “After the shallow downturn of the last two years, order activity – measured both in value and units – seems to have found a bottom.”
The USMTO is a monthly summary of capital equipment purchases in order value and machine units, nationwide and in six regions. It serves as an indicator of future manufacturing activity because it quantifies machining operations’ investments in preparation for new production programs.
The January report showed the decline in demand was more severe in some regions than others. The Northeast, Southeast, North Central-West, and South Central each reported month-to-month order values for metal-cutting decreased by double-digit percentages – by as much as -52.1% in the Northeast and Southeast regions.
But in the West region, that month-to-month decrease was -8.7%, and in the North Central-East the decrease was just -0.7%.
AMT detailed that January contract machine shop orders fell by more than 30% from December. These buyers, often called “job shops”, are the largest customer segment for machine tools, and had demonstrated some demand growth during the last quarter of 2024. Compared to January 2024, however, the lower order volume was half as much as the decline measured between January 2023 and 2024.
Aerospace sector demand in January fell almost -50% below the December level, but also measured 11% higher than the January 2024 figure.
The automotive sector demand for machining equipment fell almost 66.0% below the December result.
In contrast to these examples, demand for machining equipment from the medical manufacturing sector rose in January to the highest level since September 2023.
