US Manufacturing Technology Orders Up 72% Year-Over-Year
U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders totaled $404.6 million in April 2021, a decline of 12% from March 2021 but an increase of 72% from April 2020, according to the latest U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders report published by AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. Total orders for 2021 reached $1.57 billion YTD, an increase of 40% over orders placed in the first four months of 2020.
“April 2020 had the lowest orders in a decade, but the previous three months were business as usual, so to be 40% up over the previous year shows the real strength of the industry in 2021,” said Douglas K. Woods, president of AMT. “Parts that would normally go to job shops are now being produced in-house by larger manufacturers with the means to increase their production capacity. This is not to say production is shifting away from job shops; they are still operating at near capacity and increasing machine orders month over month, but increased consumer demand has necessitated more capacity, and confidence in the sustainability of that demand has justified the capital expenditure by large OEMs. As a result, our members have seen a resurgence of multi-machine orders near 2018 levels.