New orders for metal cutting, forming and fabricating machinery (manufacturing technology) totaled $448.8 million in November 2024, according to the Association for Manufacturing Technology’s monthly U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders Report (USMTO).

That total was up 16.8% from October orders, and 12.4% year-over-year.

Year-to-date, orders through November totaled $4.18 billion, down 5.7% compared to the first 11 months of 2023.

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“After a slow start to 2024, orders of manufacturing technology began trending upward following September’s International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS),” AMT’s November report said in a Jan. 13 release. “This continued in November, with new orders nearly 30% above a typical November and at the highest order level for any November since 2021. November 2024 orders nearly equaled those in September, when IMTS opened its doors at Chicago’s McCormick Place. This is further evidence of the lengthened buying cycle for metalworking machinery in recent months.”

According to the report, while manufacturing technology orders typically have a positive correlation with interest rates over the long term, recent trends have revealed a strong inverse correlation than traditional economic theory would predict.

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“This is in stark contrast to the previous example of an economic soft landing, where orders peaked along with interest rates and began to decline slightly as the Federal Reserve began loosening their monetary position,” according to the USMTO. “Given this trend, along with a tendency for manufacturers to expend their capital budgets by year’s end, orders from December 2024 could show a strong end to an irregular year.”

The November USMTO report also shared the following:

• Contract machine shops — the largest customer segment for manufacturing technology orders — placed the largest order since March 2023, signaling a positive trend for the broader manufacturing sector, as these shops often take on additional work when OEMs face capacity restraints.
• The aerospace manufacturers decreased modestly from October but remained slightly above the 2024 average, suggesting that the nearly two-month Boeing machinists strike likely caused a shift in demand.