Downturn in U.S. Cutting Tool Orders

U.S. cutting tool consumption in April 2017 totaled $168.03 million according to the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI; Cleveland, OH) and AMT – the Association for Manufacturing Technology (McLean, VA). This total, as reported by companies participating in the Cutting Tool Market Report (CTMR) collaboration, was down 16 percent from March’s $200.05 million and down 3.6 percent when compared with the total of $174.26 million reported for April 2016. With a year-to-date total of $716.11 million, 2017 is up 3.5 percent when compared with 2016.

These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals reported by the companies participating in the CTMR program. The totals here represent the majority of the U.S. market for cutting tools. “Once you get past the initial shock of seeing a large downturn in April and look deeper into the numbers, you begin to see that April had four less working days than March,” says Steve Stokey, the president of USCTI. “The average sales per working day were actually up in April. This is good news for the industry as it continues to outperform 2016.”

“We have seen the cutting tool market recuperate and gain strength since IMTS 2016, with the exception of one or two months,” added Chris Kaiser, the chief executive officer of BIG KAISER Precision Tooling, Inc. (Hoffman Estates, IL). “If the activity in oil and gas, mining, construction, and agricultural industries continues to improve, I think we could see a continued year-over-year increase in cutting tool consumption. Once the situation for the machine tool OEMs improves above and beyond the latest somewhat positive trends, things could actually accelerate faster than we expect. The only concern is whether this trend is sustainable, or will our politicians somehow spoil the party?”

The Cutting Tool Market Report is jointly compiled by AMT and USCTI, two trade associations representing the development, production and distribution of cutting tool technology and products. It provides a monthly statement on U.S. manufacturers’ consumption of the primary consumable in the manufacturing process – the cutting tool.  Analysis of cutting tool consumption is a leading indicator of both upturns and downturns in U.S. manufacturing activity, as it is a true measure of actual production levels.

Historical data for the Cutting Tool Market Report is available dating back to January 2012. This collaboration of AMT and USCTI is the first step in the two associations working together to promote and support U.S.-based manufacturers of cutting tool technology.

www.uscti.com, www.amtonline.org