Orders for manufacturing technology in August 2021 totaled $560 million, according to the latest U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders report published by AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. August 2021 showed an increase of nearly 20% over July 2021 and 89% over August 2020. The year-to-date total reached $3.55 billion, the highest value through the first eight months of any year since 1998.

The United States Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO) Report is based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTO program. This report, compiled by AMT, provides regional and national U.S. orders data of domestic and imported machine tools and related equipment. Analysis of manufacturing technology orders provides a reliable leading economic indicator as manufacturing industries invest in capital metalworking equipment to increase capacity and improve productivity.

“The August numbers highlight the dramatic rebound from sales in 2020,” said Douglas K. Woods, president of AMT. “It was the highest level of orders since September 2018 and the sixth highest in the history of USMTO. The consistent growth in orders across industries seen earlier this year was reversed in August when monthly growth across industries ranged from a decline of 16% to growth over 400%.

“The value of orders placed by machine shops was the highest monthly total since September 2014, reflecting OEMs placing more off-shore component business onto their floor in addition to the expansion of their traditional customer base. Computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing had a massive increase in orders. Orders from the aerospace sector increased modestly over July 2021 but still lagged behind their pre-pandemic spending. Forecasts expect output from the aerospace sector to increase steadily through 2024, requiring an eventual increase in the volume of orders.” 

AMT analysts have been following the steady downward trend in consumer confidence since its peak in April 2021. Their research indicates the abnormal summer surge in manufacturing technology orders could serve as an economy-wide stabilizer. Capital investment can alleviate the bottlenecks producers are experiencing due to labor supply issues. This can, in turn, reduce the pressure of inflation consumers are feeling by bringing supply and demand closer to alignment. Assuaging consumers’ fears would lead to more demand and could sustain the tidal wave the manufacturing technology industry is currently riding.

LestaUSA has announced its entry into the wood market to allow furniture and woodworking manufacturers of any size to increase capacity by 50% without the need to hire additional staff. This is possible thanks to their self-learning robotic finishing technology and scanning solutions. They made quite the impression last month at AWFS.

LestaUSA builds, integrates, and supports Lesta self-learning robotic and scanning technology designed to streamline finishing operations. The company is dedicated to automating solutions for the finishing industry and has proven solutions for all types of wood production.

“What makes this technology unique is that it’s so simple that manufacturers of any size can be finishing robotically on Day One following installation,” said Derek DeGeest, President of LestaUSA. “Successful painting automation needs software integration for simple spray controls to fine-tune the program and adjust for day-to-day variables. Lesta software gives your painter the tools to control the robotic system’s painting parameters, recipes, and quality. A perfected balance of robot and painter.”

While other robotic finishing technology requires engineers and robotic programmers, Lesta Self-learning robots allow your painter to teach the robot how to paint complicated parts in a weightless self-learning mode. Every gun angle, trigger pull, and spray technique is recorded in real-time, saved, and then duplicated by the robot on future pieces.

LestaUSA is about working together to provide turn-key robotic solutions. This technology addresses the struggles everyone has and will improve the finishing industry for U.S. manufacturers by breaking down the barriers of automating complex parts. LestaUSA builds, integrates, and supports its finishing technology right here in the U.S. Finishing automation isn’t new. Still, the ability to have robots complete the work without complicated programming or teach pendants in North America is. Lesta robotic solutions are innovative and promise to change the way finishing is done.

Lesta technology is available for Cart Systems for complex furniture, a 3D Scanning and Carousel System for panels and drawers, and a 3D Scanning for Overhead Conveyor and Cart Systems for doors. These Lesta solutions can be added to any cart or conveyor system.

“Lesta breaks down the barriers of automating complex parts,” added DeGeest. “It empowers your painter to use their knowledge to automate repetitive painting tasks and frees them up to focus on improving quality. A perfect balance of robot and painter—giving more gun-on time, increasing production, reducing overspray, and improving working conditions.”

The wood industry has unique challenges. Among the biggest is the need to keep up with production demands with existing staff due to the limited availability of workers. Lesta robots solve this challenge in two ways, depending on what’s being painted. For larger pieces, the robot enters a weightless self-learning mode, and it records the precise movements of a human painter and repeats them on future pieces. The robot is programmed using a 2D or 3D scanner for panels, drawers, and doors, and pieces are fed through either a carousel or conveyor system.

Successful painting automation needs software integration that provides spray controls for painters to fine-tune the program and adjust for day-to-day variables. Automating a painting process is about more than a robot spraying parts. It’s also automating part transfer to maximize the robot’s potential and keep it spraying. Scanning and autonomous program generation allow precise robotic automation of gun path, distance, and speed to save time and material.

2020, the world’s leading provider of applications and enterprise solutions dedicated to interior design, space planning, and furniture manufacturing, is excited to announce that its long-time partnership with Benchmarx has recently evolved, the specialist outlet choosing 2020 Ideal Spaces to enhance its online presence.

Benchmarx is a trade-only specialist outlet supplying high-quality kitchens and joinery products, a one-stop shop catering to businesses of all sizes. As a member of Travis Perkins PLC, Benchmarx is also part of a group of leading companies in the builders’ merchant and home improvement markets in the UK.

Benchmarx was looking to enhance their web experience to get more highly qualified actionable leads through their website, for which 2020 Ideal Spaces was a perfect fit. 2020 has been Benchmarx’s technology partner for 15 years, since the specialist outlet’s establishment in 2006, with the deployment of 2020 Fusion in-store.

With a successful and well-established relationship with 2020, Benchmarx chose their online engagement solution to enhance their online strategy further and enable more leads to get captured on their website.

2020 Ideal Spaces is a cloud-based 3D space planning solution that provides an industry platform enabling omnichannel retail for consumers, home centres, retailers, and manufacturers. It improves the consumer onboarding experience through every step of the buying journey, from inspiration to qualification to space planning to purchase—resulting in higher qualified leads and conversions.

“We were looking to enhance our online engagement and gain more leads,” says Karl Andrews, head of product at Benchmarx. “Since we already had a great partnership with 2020, we assumed their 2020 Ideal Spaces solution would be the perfect fit to deliver more valuable and qualified leads to our business – and we were right! It has already proven to be the case since its launch, and we’re very happy with our decision.”

Using the interactive platform provided by 2020, visitors to Benchmarx’s website can now design and visualize their kitchen with Benchmarx products, collaborate with family and friends, and share their contact details to enable Benchmarx designers to follow up make their dream projects come true.