After three consecutive years of declining orders of manufacturing technology, measured by the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders Report published by AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, the value of orders increased 22.5% in 2025. While the value of orders has increased markedly, some builders and distributors who measure performance by the number of units sold may be left wondering if they missed the invitation to the party.
As orders neared their post-COVID-19 peak in the final quarter of 2021, the typically reliable correlation between the number of new machines ordered and their aggregate value began to loosen. An analysis of these recent trends in manufacturing technology orders set the stage at AMT’s annual Winter Economic Forum before turning to the prospects ahead in 2026 and business opportunities with industrial AI.
Demand for metalworking machinery recovered quickly from the 2020 recession caused by the COVID-19 shutdowns. Consumers shifted their buying toward goods because most services were unavailable, and supply chain disruptions encouraged the expansion of manufacturing capacity closer to the point of consumption. These trends overcame the negative impact of the pandemic to the point that the decline in orders from 2018 to 2019 was greater than the decline from 2019 to 2020. By 2021, the value of machinery orders had rebounded by a booming 54.1% over the previous year. In that same year, as orders approached their postrecession peaks, rates of change in the number of units ordered began to deviate from the rates of change in their aggregate value.
In a trend that persists today, the deviation between units ordered and order values can largely be explained by the boom in demand for automation, which tends to increase value faster than unit counts. Additionally, the mix of customer industries that are driving demand for metalworking machinery in recent years involves highly specialized work and a growing demand for precision.
In laying out the forecast for manufacturing technology orders in 2026, Jeremy Leonard, managing director of global industry services at Oxford Economics, explained that the industries that have been driving the trends of the past few years will remain a large source of demand for manufacturing technology. Oxford Economics forecasts industrial production in the United States to increase 1.2% in 2026. According to Oxford’s estimates, this increase in industrial activity will translate into a roughly 2% increase in the value of manufacturing technology orders.
Throughout the year, AMT hosts speakers from Oxford Economics to give an updated machine order forecast as well as industry experts to discuss trends among specific customer industries. The next virtual update will be held on Tuesday, April 14, and another on Thursday, July 16. After the economic webinars, the next opportunity to hear from the economists live will be at manufacturing technology’s premier economic event, MTForecast, held Oct. 14-16 in Schaumburg, Illinois.
While these events may seem far in the future, AMT is here to answer your questions and provide the data needed to effectively run a business in the interim. You can access this benefit by submitting a research request or by subscribing to AMT’s twice-monthly newsletter to get the latest market updates and industry news delivered right to your inbox.
