The latest US orders data from AMT shows that the machine tool market continues to decline compared to last year, although the pace of that is slowing and the cumulative 12-month total has been stable since March. Cutting tool demand has similarly flattened recently, although here it is at the top of the cycle.
The US Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO) programme tracks orders in the US market, based on the reports from participants in the survey. In the 1st half of the year (January to June), total machine tool orders were -10.7% lower than in the same period of 2023 and the rolling-annual total is -10.3% lower than the previous 12 month period.
The AMT press release notes that there was a significant increase in the average order value in June pointing to a continuation of the trend for more automation among customers given that price changes have been minimal recently. The strongest customer sector at the moment is reported to be aerospace which looks to be driven by high capacity utilisation rates in the industry. The weakest sectors are contract machine shops and primary metal manufacturers.
In the regional analysis, two areas are bucking the negative trend and have orders in H1-24 higher than last year; this is led by the South-East at +12%, with the Western region the other positive at +10%. The other 4 areas are all seeing double-digit declines with reductions ranging from -13% in the North-Central-West and -14% in the North-East to -22% in the South-Central area and -23% in the North-Central-East.
The US Cutting Tool Market Report (CTMR) tracks orders for tooling on a similar basis; the total for the 1st half of 2024 is +2.6% higher than the same months last year (January to June 2023). However, with the 12-month rolling total having been at broadly the same level for the last 3 months, there are signs that this part of the manufacturing technology market may be at the top of the cycle.
Interestingly, and in contrast to the machinery side of the business, aerospace is noted as being a weak part of the market that have not been balanced by modest gains for the automotive industry.
You can download the press releases for the two surveys from the AMT web-site at https://www.amtonline.org/topic/intelligence, with the CTMR release also published on the USCTI web-site at www.uscti.com (go to the News tab); alternatively, you can request either or both releases from MTA and we can make sure you get them when they are published each month. We have attached a set of charts tracking the rolling 12-month totals from these two surveys which you can download below.