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U.S. industrial production remained flat month over month in August, and manufacturing output decreased 0.3% after increasing for seven consecutive months, according to the Federal Reserve.
The output of durable manufacturing declined 0.5% in August, while the index for nondurable manufacturing was unchanged.
Capacity utilization was unchanged at 76.3%, or 3.1 percentage points below its average from 1972–2025, the Federal Reserve said.
New orders of metalworking machinery exceeded $500 million in July for the fifth consecutive month, totalling $605.8 million, the Association for Manufacturing Technology reported on Monday. This was an 8% decrease from June 2026 and a 55.2% increase year over year.
This is the second time since the trade group's statistical project began collecting data in 1998 that orders exceeded $500,000 dollars for five consecutive months, AMT said.
Manufacturing technology orders totaled $4.03 billion from January to July 2026, up 37.1% from the same period last year. The group attributed a decline in orders from June to July 2026 to investment reductions in several industries, especially by manufacturers of engines, turbines and other power transmission equipment.
Manufacturers in the forging and stamping sector increased orders to their highest level since December 2012, AMT reported. "From June to July 2026, the value of orders from contract machine shops declined by only 1.3%, and the number of units ordered increased by over 2%, indicating a growing need for additional manufacturing capacity," the trade group said.
Investments
This week saw several investment announcements from various manufacturers.
ArtiCast
Michigan-based die casting manufacturer ArtiCast Holdings announced it will invest $10.3 million to open a factory in a vacant facility formerly owned by Pace Industries. It has pledged to create 100 new jobs at the facility, according to a news release.
ArtiCast Jackson will manufacture components for the aerospace, defense, automotive, humanoid robots and other industries using high-pressure die-casting equipment. The opening will position the company closer to its customers in the Southeastern U.S., Erin Hoffmann, CEO and chairman of ArtiFlex Holdings, said in a statement.
Hitachi Energy
Hitachi Energy said it would spend $528 million to expand its transformer manufacturing facility in Gallman, Mississippi. The expanded facility will be close to and more than twice the size of the company's Crystal Springs plant. It will also double both the company's production capacity and its current workforce in the area by creating more than 700 jobs, per a news release.
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