The U.S. Cutting Tool Institute and AMT – the Assn. for Manufacturing Technology release the monthly Cutting Tool Market Report from which the latest figures are drawn. CTMR data is based on the totals reported by participating companies, whose results represent the majority of the U.S. market for cutting tools.
“The stars continue to align with consumer confidence at an all-time high. Aerospace and automotive industries continue to stay strong along with the rest of the industrial economy, which bodes well for the cutting tool industry,” said Steve Stokey, a director of the USCTI and exec. vice president and owner of Allied Machine & Engineering Corp., Dover, OH. “We see this with the 8.0% year-to-date increase as the year goes on, the numbers continue to improve.”
In their release, USMTI and AMT noted that current economic conditions support increases in manufacturing activity: 3Q 2017 U.S. GDP growth of 3.3%; business investment, +4.7%; and new equipment purchases, +10.4%.
By extension, AMT’s recent release of the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders report for October also showed long-term strength in the sector, with U.S. machine shops and other manufacturers’ new orders for capital equipment increasing in October for a third consecutive month, +21.0% year-over-year, and +7.6% year-to-date.
“With this October’s 17% growth, it suggests that the upward trend is accelerating. This is good news for our industry as we move into 2018,” Stokey concluded.
