Contract machine shops increased order value by nearly a third while units ordered grew by a much smaller degree. Similarly, manufacturers of medical supplies dramatically increased their overall spending. The automotive sector also continued to increase orders. Because of the longer production horizon as well as a sustained increase in demand for new vehicles, automotive manufacturers made capital spending investments despite labor challenges.

“The disparity in manufacturing technology investment across industries indicates that not all are paring back capital spending at once,” said Woods. “Industries that are spending healthily on manufacturing tech appear to be shifting expenditures toward highly automated machinery as evidenced by rising per-unit values.” 

Though year-to-date orders have declined compared to a strong 2022, order levels are above historical averages, and there are pockets of strength in several industries. 

“Industries supported by high consumer demand and benefiting from long production timelines continued to be reliable customers of manufacturing technology,” said Woods. “We are detecting a shift in capital goods investment toward improving productivity through adoption of manufacturing technology automation.” 

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