U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders totaled $337.5 million in July, a decrease of 1.7 percent from June 2020 and a 13.8 percent decrease from July 2019, according to the latest U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders report published by AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. Orders to date reached $2 billion, nearly a quarter lower than the total through July 2019.

“The manufacturing technology industry seems to be stabilizing, and order growth is more balanced across sectors,” said Douglas K. Woods, President of AMT. “We see this as well in YTD growth numbers, which experienced a lower rate of decline in July. A wide variety of sectors including automotive and medical equipment were positive this month, with the automotive sector being the standout. Automotive production grew from 1,700 units per month in April to 222,000 units in July. As a result, production has scaled up through the supply chain and is driving manufacturing capital demand.”

“The ISM purchasing manager’s index (PMI) has been over 50 for the past three months, inclusive of August. Capacity utilization has also had three months of steady increases with the expectation that August will see the index rise again. Combined with the narrowing of declines in MT orders, these trends signal that the bottom of the downturn may be near. We are hopeful that IMTS spark will provide an additional bump to sales activity in September and the following months, as is typically the case in an IMTS year.”