Industrial Machinery Manufacturers NAICS 3332

May 30, 2025 - SBA Loan Limit May Double

• A bipartisan group in Congress has introduced legislation that would boost manufacturing by small US firms, Barron’s reported in May. The Made in America Manufacturing Finance Act supports the Trump administration’s efforts to revive US manufacturing and create jobs. The bill would raise the $5 million cap on Small Business Administration 7(a) and 504 loans to $10 million, but only for manufacturers. (The current $5 million limit hasn’t changed since 2010.) The 7(a) program offers flexible financing for working capital, equipment, and real estate, while the 504 program is typically used for fixed assets like land and large machinery. The 7(a) loan program, which guarantees loans issued by banks and nonbank lenders, has long been a cornerstone of small business financing. Lenders broadly support the bill, but would like to see it applied to all small business loans, according to Forbes.
• The Trump administration’s on-again, off-again tariff strategy is sending ripples through industrial manufacturing, significantly impacting production costs, supply chains, and overall competitiveness in the machinery and industrial equipment sector, Manufacturing.Net reports. The implementation of an additional 10% tariff on Chinese imports, suspension of de minimis exemptions for Chinese shipments, and newly announced (and since delayed) 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, are causing confusion and requiring manufacturers to quickly adapt to mitigate potential cost spikes and avoid supply disruptions. The higher costs for imported components and raw materials is particularly acute in industrial manufacturing, where steel, aluminum, machinery parts, and electronic components are key production inputs. The 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports are increasing the cost of industrial machinery, construction equipment, and transportation infrastructure, saddling US manufacturers of heavy machinery with higher input costs for essential materials, according to Manufacturing.Net.

• President Trump's tariffs threats, if realized, could worsen the existing labor shortage in the US manufacturing sector, Inc reported in December. If, as the president has suggested, 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada, the European Union, and other US trading partners, result in largescale reshoring of jobs to the US, it would add to the tally of US factory jobs currently going unfilled. According to data cited by The Wall Street Journal, the number of available manufacturing jobs that went unfilled each month held steady at about 100,000 throughout 2024. Moreover, the domestic labor pool may not be able to fill millions of new positions expected to be created in the next few years, Inc writes. Trump’s promise to deport undocumented workers and restrict immigration would only exacerbate the current labor shortage, some business owners say.
• Employment by industrial machinery manufacturers grew 1.6% in March compared to a year ago, while the average industry wage rose 2.6% over the same period to $31.41 per hour, easing from its record high in February, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Rising producer prices for makers of industrial machinery are helping to support growing payrolls, although sales are slipping. Machinery sales declined 1% year over year in the fourth quarter and were down 1.8% from Q3, according to the Census Bureau. Profits rose however, with machinery industry after-tax profits up 8% year over year in Q4 and 18.8% from Q3.