New orders for metal cutting, forming and fabricating machinery (manufacturing technology) totaled $515.8 million in March, according to the Association for Manufacturing Technology’s monthly Manufacturing Technology Orders Report (USMTO).

That total increased 33.8% from February and increased 20.5% year-over-year. It was a major jump from February’s 9.9% monthly increase.

MDM’s 1Q25 MarketPulse Report (store link) 

For the first quarter of 2025, orders increased 12.4% to $1.26 billion compared to the first quarter of 2024. However, compared to the 4Q24, manufacturing technology orders fell by 5.7%.

“The first quarter of 2025 showed strong signs that demand for manufacturing technology was beginning to recover after two years of mild decline,” the report said. “Increasing uncertainty and downside risks to the economy could upend the positive path of manufacturing technology orders. After forecasting robust growth in 2025, Oxford Economics recently revised its outlook to a high single-digit decline, as economic conditions could push the recovery in machinery demand to the latter half of 2026.”

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The March USMTO report also shared the following:

• Orders from contract machine shops— the largest customer segment for manufacturing technology orders — underperformed the overall market movements in March 2025.
• Orders from aerospace manufacturers saw orders rise in March to their highest monthly value on record and the most units ordered since December 2023. Capacity utilization also exceeded pre-strike levels for the first time since the Boeing machinists strike ended in November 2024.