Contract machine shops, the largest customer of manufacturing technology, increased their value of orders by more than a quarter over the first two months of 2025, while the number of units increased by only a modest single-digit percentage. Job shops typically increase orders in response to demand for additional capacity, and the number of units ordered closely correlates with the value of those orders.

Conversely, manufacturers of aerospace equipment tend to have outsized order values compared to the number of units ordered because of the highly specialized operations required in their processes. In the first two months of 2026, aerospace orders were 233% above 2025, and units were 125% higher.

In previous months, as businesses learned to cope with elevated levels of uncertainty and the cost of inaction grew, demand for manufacturing technology increased. This confident investment in the face of fluctuating policy carried into the first two months of 2026. However, with the outbreak of war in Iran in the last few days of February, whether businesses will continue to invest at this elevated rate remains to be seen. On one hand, additional military spending will funnel into an aerospace and defense sector already grappling with capacity constraints, yet further changes to the tariff environment could stall additional investment.

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