The Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) is reporting new orders for manufacturing technology are up, despite concerns about inflation and the economy. AMT says this is a sign that consumer demand is still high for goods.
“Despite these strong results, there’s clearly been a lot of news related to declining consumer sentiment, everything from inflation to high interest rates to the war in Ukraine,” says Douglas K. Woods, president of AMT. “While consumer sentiment has been low since April 2021, consumer demand continues to hit record highs, leveraging consumers’ amassed savings as well as large capital investment pools looking for high-value market opportunities.
From AMT:
According to AMT's report, U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO), orders in April totaled $513.4 million, surpassing half a billion dollars for the second month in a row.
“April USMTO numbers reflect ongoing consumer spending, particularly fueled by demand for manufactured goods, such as aerospace and other capital-heavy industries,” Woods continued. “Based on available economic projections, we had anticipated orders to gradually soften through the middle of the year. However, that pullback has not happened, and signs point to above-average orders for manufacturing technology into the beginning of the summer.
April orders decreased nearly 7% from March 2022 but were 27.5% larger than April 2021. 2022 orders through April totaled $1.9 billion, a 27% increase over the first four months of 2021.
“When supply chain issues are minimized, the continued pace of consumer-driven demand could necessitate additional capacity, prolonging a potential slowdown in the industry," Woods says.
