This year is rocking the USMTO order books. October is on track to produce a third month in a row with $500 million in orders or better, which hasn’t happened in the history of USMTO program. The supply chain has not caught up with demand pushing backlogs on orders out further. Two other first-time developments also occurred in September as the medical equipment sector became the third largest market by dollar volume and the South East became the largest region by dollar volume for the first time since USMTO began. As 2018 comes to an end, let’s look at other areas that producers, distributors and service providers in our industry might find as interesting opportunities.
Category changes – AMT’s Economics and Statistics Committee endorsed proposed changes in the product classifications for NC horizontal lathes, Vertical Machining Centers and Horizontal Machining Centers during a meeting on November 14. AMT staff will be publishing a new product classification listing in December, which will highlight categories that are being eliminated and the classifications that will replace them. A special letter will go out to any company that has provided data in the product categories that will be impacted. AMT will also produce a webinar that companies impacted by the change will be encouraged to log into while any company in or considering joining the program can join in on as well.
AMT Benchmarking Surveys – besides USMTO, AMT produces market surveys on workholding, cutting tool products and thread rolling machines and dies. Anyone who participates in a benchmarking survey has access to not only the survey they contribute to but also access to detailed data in the other three market surveys. Tooling participants often find it useful to peek at where in the U.S. machining centers and lathes are being sold. Milling machine sellers often find the shipments of milling and boring systems by state a good leading indicator of the market. Getting involved at the beginning of the year is a great time to start as workloads are softer and AMT staff have more time to educate new participants.
BREXIT means a new trade agreement with the UK – amid the negotiations that the U.S. trade representative is conducting to address the steel and aluminum tariffs and the 301-related tariffs levied on China, the office is also working to wrap-up the USMCA while starting trade negotiations with other nations. Near the top of that list will be the United Kingdom. The Trump administration is looking for input on issues to address in a new bilateral agreement with the United Kingdom. The U.S. International Trade Commission is actively seeking comments from U.S. manufacturers. If you have input to provide, please contact Pat McGibbon or Amber Thomas or consider one of the Listening Tour venues. The U.S. International Trade Commission scheduled field sessions in 13 major cities including Chicago, Boston, Cleveland, and Los Angeles. AMT encourages our members to participate and share their issues at these events.
What are you doing with AMT information?
As we close out 2018, we are always looking for good examples to share with other members about how their peers are applying AMT data, information and advice. I would appreciate it if you could share your story with us. We will not disclose any confidential information. Understanding how you are applying our products and services would be very useful to Strategic Analytics and AMT. Please, send your stories to pmcgibbon@amtonline.org or call me at 703-827-5255.
