We keep a pretty close eye on the industry here at Parts Portal, and one number really jumped out at us this month.
According to recent data from the Association For Manufacturing Technology (AMT), manufacturing technology orders climbed to $2.77 billion over the first five months of 2026, a 31.9% jump compared to 2025. Shops aren't just buying for immediate needs; they are building out long-term capacity.
A lot of this surge comes down to shop owners racing to stay ahead of upcoming Section 232 price hikes. Buying early makes financial sense, but it also means expensive new machines are landing on shop floors right now, and they need to start paying for themselves on day one.
The second that CNC or Swiss lathe is bolted down, it’s costing you money. The bank doesn’t care if it’s running three shifts or sitting quiet while the operator waits for a job traveler. The payment is the same.
Since everyone is buying more capacity, having the machines isn’t the bottleneck anymore. The real bottleneck is whether you can get enough quotes out the door to keep those spindles turning and attract work that fills open machines.
That isn’t a problem with your equipment; it’s a sales & quoting problem. And that’s exactly why we built Parts Portal.
Our goal is to give you the tools to win work without the headache. When you’re carrying the cost of high-end equipment, every minute matters. Faster quoting and automating communications means you fill that schedule and start seeing a return on your investment way sooner. On top of that, our capacity filler tool lets you highlight quiet schedule blocks and push targeted promotional offers directly to clients, turning idle machine time into active revenue.
If you just added a new work center or have one on the way, the best way to protect that investment is to make sure the jobs you’re already chasing don’t stall out before they ever reach the machines.
Source: AMT, "$583.4M in New Machinery Orders Highlight US Economic Strengths"