Qimtek operates a clearing house for contract manufacturing and their Contract Manufacturing Index (CMI) tracks the purchasing budget of companies that are looking to outsource manufacturing work. They report that 2024’s activity was -23% lower than the year before due mainly to uncertainty from the election and budget, with the new US President not helping either.
They note that while 2024 started promisingly but following a pre-election boost in June, business slowed during the 2nd half of the year, with September very slow, with not much of a recovery towards the end of the year. However, they report that the first few weeks in 2025 have been very busy.
The projects are split into 3 groups. During 2024, machining process accounted for 54% of all projects and the CMI for this type of operation was -9% lower than in 2023; fabrication accounted for 36% of projects in 2024, seeing a fall of 31% compared to the previous year, while “other” projects (which took the remaining 10% of the projects) fell by -42%.
The largest industry groups in 2024 were industrial machinery (51%), construction (9%), food & beverages and defence/military (both 8%).
The data for 2024 is based on work for 180 companies and 1299 projects.
You can get more details on this report from the Qimtek website at https://www.qimtek.co.uk/blog/contract-manufacturing-index-2024.