While 2017 was a great year for manufacturing, 2018 has been a record-breaking boom throughout the industry. The GBI: Metalworking, an indicator of U.S. machine tool orders (USMTO) from Gardner Intelligence, has been closely monitoring the growth of the industry, and according to Steven Kline Jr., Chief Data Officer for Gardner Intelligence, the Metalworking Index indicates that although growth will slow throughout 2019, the industry will continue growing. According to Kline, machine tool consumption will end the year at $7 billion, and 2019 will experience 11-percent growth over that number.

Gardner Intelligence’s Capital Spending Survey indicates there will be strong growth in turning, horizontal machining centers, grinding, vertical machining centers and EDM. Kline says small shops have been a major driver of the machine tool market. “With roughly 22,000 job shops in the United States, smaller manufacturing operations are a significant driver of the industry,” he says. Job shops will have spent $2.2 billion in 2018, and they will likely increase their spending for the third year in a row in 2019, possibly reaching an all-time high.

The full Capital Spending Survey report will be available at gardnerintelligence.com this fall.