Metalworking Machinery Manufacturers NAICS 3335

May 20, 2025 - Jump in March Orders

• New orders for metalworking machinery totaled $515.8 million in March, the highest monthly value since March 2023, according to the latest Manufacturing Technology Orders Report published by the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT). March orders jumped 33.8% versus February and were up 20.5% year over year. First quarter new orders totaled $1.26 billion, up 12.4% over Q1 2024, per the USMTO report. Machine shops reduced their orders in the first quarter while aerospace manufacturers increased theirs. While metalworking machinery manufacturers had a strong first quarter, as measured by new orders, economic uncertainty and tariff-fueled rises in metals prices could dampen future demand for machinery, per AMT.
• Tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to the US have a direct impact on small fabricators’ cost structures, bidding strategies, and overall competitiveness, according to Exiil, a provider of software to metal manufacturers. In March, President Trump raised steel and aluminum import tariffs to the US by 25%, ending all country exemptions, in addition to hiking tariffs on China, according to Reuters. Russian aluminum imports carry a tariff of 200%. Beyond raw metal, the US has increasingly added “downstream” or “derivative” products – such as stamped parts, fasteners, tubing, wire, or other items with high steel/aluminum content – to existing Section 232 tariffs. As a result, metal fabricators face higher materials costs. Even businesses that source metals domestically are likely to pay more for metal as US mills often raise their prices when foreign competitors’ costs go up – because the “floor” of the market shifts.

• Shop class is being retooled to teach today’s students the technical skills required to fill the manufacturing labor gap, which could swell to 3.8 million workers by 2033, according to a report from Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute. Leading-edge school districts are investing tens of millions of dollars to update and expand high-school shop classes for the 21st century, The Wall Street Journal reports. Vocational classes are preparing students for careers in the trades by working with wood, metals, and machinery as hands-on skills stage a comeback amid high college costs and AI’s threat to white collar job. Cutting-edge facilities – outfitted with computer-controlled machine tools and robotic arms – are attracting students at a suburban high school in Wisconsin, where about a quarter of its 2,300 students have signed up for at least one of the courses in construction, manufacturing, or woodworking, WSJ reports.
• Employment by metalworking machinery manufacturers shrank 3.2% in March compared to a year ago, while average industry wages rose 1.9% over the same period to a new high of $28.17 per hour, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Employment by the industry is falling amid declining new orders and shipments, down 5.8% and 4.3% year over year, respectively, in February, Census Bureau data show. Meanwhile, the producer price index for metalworking machinery manufacturers, which measures prices producers receive for their products, ended 2024 at a record high.