Manufacturers of metal-cutting machines are shearing prices to generate sales amid a global slump in machinery demand brought on by lower energy prices and reduced investment in high-tech equipment.
A report in the Wall Street Journal says that orders in the U.S. for computer-guided cutting machines used in factories and machine shops were down 16% during the first half of the year compared with 2015, according to the Association for Manufacturing Technology, a Virginia-based trade association for the machine tools industry.
“Because the market is down all the builders are offering incentives,” said Scott Camloh, North America sales manager for Hurco Companies Inc., an Indianapolis-based maker of precision cutting machines.