Industrial Machinery Manufacturers NAICS 3332

Jul 30, 2025 - Manufacturing Contracted in June

• US factory activity – a driver of demand for industrial machinery – contracted in June for a fourth consecutive month as new orders and employment shrank at an accelerated pace, Bloomberg reports. The Institute for Supply Management’s Manufacturing Index inched up half a point in June to 49, according to the latest data. (Readings below 50 indicate contraction.) Weak demand and shrinking order backlogs help explain a faster rate of decline in factory employment. According to the Labor Department, the US manufacturing sector shed 7,000 jobs in June, for a total of 89,000 jobs lost over the past 12 months. The nine manufacturing industries reporting growth in June included (in order) Apparel, Leather & Allied Products, Petroleum & Coal, and Nonmetallic Mineral Products, while the fabricated metal products industry was among those industries reporting contraction.
• 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.
• Producer prices for industrial machinery manufacturers reached a new high in June, up 2.5% compared to a year ago, after rising 2.9% in the previous June-versus-June annual comparison, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Employment by the industry grew 0.8% year over year in May, while average wages at industrial machinery manufacturers rose 5.8% over the same period to a new high of $32.08 per hour, BLS data show. Rising producer prices for makers of industrial machinery are helping to support growing payrolls, although new orders and shipments are falling.