Manufacturing Technology Orders Climb 16.5 Percent

May 8, 2023

New orders of manufacturing technology in March climbed 16.5 percent compared to February, according to the latest U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders Report published by AMT–The Association For Manufacturing Technology—just 2 percent below March 2022 orders. Orders through Q1 registered 7.5 percent below those for Q1 2022.

“Based on historical trends, we expected March to be an improvement over February,” says Douglas K. Woods, president of AMT. “In an upside surprise, March 2023 … is one of the largest March totals since 2008. While most industries we track increased orders in March 2023, several were particularly boosted, as they were the beneficiaries of last year’s infrastructure and chips bills that have begun to be implemented.”

Construction-machinery manufacturers greatly increased their orders in March 2023, ordering the most machines in a single month since April 2008. Contract machine shops, which account for the largest share of orders, nearly doubled their orders from February 2023 and placed the highest number of orders since IMTS in September 2022. The aerospace industry placed its highest level of orders this year, and manufacturers of motor-vehicle transmissions placed their largest order since June 2022.

“Investments made by automakers show the need for additional internal-combustion engine manufacturing capacity as a bridge during the transition to electric vehicles,” adds Woods.