Machine shops and other manufacturers’ demand for new capital equipment remain strong compared to the year-ago record, but new orders for machinery fell to $392.7 million in May 2025, down -11.8% from April. It was the second consecutive month to show a double-digit decline in new orders, though the result is still 2.7% higher than the May 2024 result.
For the January-to-May period new orders totaled $2.09 billion, which is 15% above the total for the first five months of 2024. And, as reported by AMT - the Assn. for Manufacturing Technology, the order value for each month of 2025 has outperformed the comparable month of 2024. The Association pointed to “the irregular implementation of tariff policy” as the basis for economic uncertainty during April and May, and speculated that the new federal budget agreement will provide some stability for businesses to make investment plans in the remaining months of 2025.
AMT’s monthly U.S. Manufacturing Technology report summarizes manufacturers’ purchases of metal-cutting and metalforming machinery, according to order value and machine units, nationwide and in six regions. It serves as an indicator of future manufacturing activity because it quantifies machining operations’ investments in preparation for new production programs.
According to the latest USMTO summary, new orders during May were strongest in the North Central-East region ($113.4 million), where they increased 13.6% from April. The West region also had strong demand ($81.03 million, up 83.63% month/month), but three regions reported weakening order activity from April to May – North Central-West ($62.81 million, -24.9%), Northeast ($49.76 million, -19.7%), and South Central ($35.08 million, -46.7%.) The Southeast region remained flat at $50.58 million in orders for May (0.9%.)
AMT also reported that the number of machine units ordered during the January-May 2025 period was 4.7% higher than during the first five months of 2024.
As for the origins for the new orders, according to AMT the May results included the largest volume of order activity by “engine, turbine, and power transmission manufacturers” in more than two years, since February 2023. “This is likely an extension of the outsized order activity trend in electrical equipment manufacturing due to increased grid demands from data centers,” according to the Association.
May new orders from aerospace manufacturers slowed to their monthly average level, according to AMT, though they continue “trending upward.”
