Orders for manufacturing technology in January 2018 were up 44% compared to January 2017, according to the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders report from the Association For Manufacturing Technology. It was the second-largest January in the 22 years recorded by the USMTO program. However, orders totaled $372 million for the month, down 20% compared to December.

“The large volumes ordered in January were on par with expectations and indicative of the capacity expansion we expect U.S. manufacturers to pursue throughout 2018 and well into the next year,” said AMT President Douglas K. Woods. “Globally, market expansion is nearly unprecedented, with the world Purchasing Managers’ Index on the rise and the U.S. PMI at a 14-year high. Still, growth has its challenges, and this tremendous increase in demand is creating shortages in components worldwide.”

Every region tracked by USMTO recorded order growth relative to January 2017, while only the Southcentral region realized a month-over-month gain as it benefitted from strong orders in primary metal products, contract machining and improvement in oil and gas. The North-Central-West region, led by medical equipment and industrial machinery, was up 69% relative to January 2017. Nationally, orders from the forging and stamping industry were up 114% over December, while the primary metal products industry posted a 93% increase over December.

The key leading indicators for the manufacturing technology market were very strong in December and made significant improvements in January as well. Capacity utilization remains steady at 76% for the manufacturing sector while the industrial production index remained at 108. The Consumer Confidence Index rounds off to 100, a new cyclical high, as was the 1.3 million new home starts in January. Over all the indicators point to a strong first quarter for the manufacturing technology market.