Record value: First-half 2026 metalworking machinery orders were the strongest since USMTO data began in 1998.
- June surge: Orders totaled 672.7 million in June 2026, rising 15.6% month over month and 56.8% year over year.
- Value-volume split: First-half orders reached 3.44 billion, up 36.0%, while machine count slipped 2.6% from the previous half.
- Sector leadership: Aerospace set records in value and units; contract machine shops hit a first-half value high despite nearly 8% fewer units.
- Forecast elevated: Oxford Economics projects a 1.5% second-half rise and nearly $7 billion in total 2026 orders.
New orders of metalworking machinery totaled 672.7 million in June 2026, up 15.6% from the prior month and 56.8% from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders Report published by AMT — The Association For Manufacturing Technology. The stronger month capped an exceptional opening stretch: manufacturing technology orders reached 3.44 billion in the first half of 2026, a 36.0% increase over the same period a year earlier.
The first half of 2026 was the strongest half-year for the value of metalworking machinery orders since USMTO began collecting data in 1998.
The value signal is clear, but the unit signal is more nuanced. The number of machines ordered in the first half of 2026 was 2.6% lower than in the previous half, even as order value moved to a record level. That gap suggests a mix tilt toward higher-value capital equipment rather than a simple across-the-board volume surge.
Job shops: value up, units down
Orders from contract machine shops reached their highest first-half value since 1998. Yet the number of units ordered from contract machine shops fell by nearly 8% from the previous half. For manufacturing professionals, that combination points to selective investment: fewer machines, but more capable or more expensive ones.
Aerospace and power lead demand
The aerospace sector ordered the most machinery in the first half of 2026 on record, in both value and units. Orders in the first half of 2026 were nearly one-third higher than in the latter half of the prior year, while units were up by nearly a quarter.
Power generation and distribution manufacturers also moved sharply higher in June 2026, with orders more than double the long-running monthly average. That outsized activity lifted the segment to 14% above the automotive sector’s first-half investment.
Outlook stays elevated
Oxford Economics delivered an updated forecast at AMT’s Summer Economic Forum calling for orders to remain elevated: a 1.5% increase in the second half of 2026, bringing total orders for the year to nearly $7 billion. With IMTS approaching, the data point to a manufacturing technology market that is expanding by value even where unit counts lag.
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