Contract manufacturing Index 2025

The contract manufacturing index 2025

• The Index is split into three processes - Machining, Fabrication, and Others.
• 2025’s data is collected from 427companies and 1,254 projects.

• The 2025 CMI index increased 47% from the 2024 average numbers.

  The final quarter of 2025 was characterised by a significant cooling in activity compared to the previous quarter, although the market remained well ahead of 2024 levels.

  The overall drop of the index in this quarter from the previous quarter is 39% but compared to last year's quarter 4, it is up 64%.  We had more projects and buyers than last year and a huge increase in the number of parts. 2025 saw a total of 19,800,000 parts being quoted on the platform.

  On the other hand, lead times have dropped by one day this year from 20 days to 19 days.

  The last quarter of 2025 was slower, much stemming from uncertainty around the budget and it did not help having it so late in the year. Buyer activity has been pretty steady but suppliers are very cautious and are careful where they are spending money and which jobs they are quoting one.

Machining

• 58% of third quarter projects were from machining processes.
• The buyers of machining processes have a total outsourcing value of £13,283,402.
• The index for machining is slightly down 31% from the previous quarter and up 57% on previous year.
• Machining index over the year is up 27% compared to the average for 2024.

From the graph above it is obvious that machining index was flat over the year with a peak in the middle of the year. 

Fabrication

• 33% of fourth quarter projects were from the fabrication process.
• The buyers of fabrication processes have a total outsourcing value of £12,324,353.
• The index for Fabrication is down53% on last quarter and 57% up on last year's figures.
• The Fabrication index is up 60% compared to the average for 2024.

Like the machining index, it had a peak in the middle of the year.

Others

• 9% of third quarter projects were from other processes
• The buyers of other processes has a total outsourcing value of £3,891,167
• The index for Others is up 8% on last quarter and more than 117% of last year's third quarter.

The consistent pattern throughout 2025 has been a gradual increase in other processes over the year. While the total number of projects has remained largely stable, their overall value is rising. 

Industry

Industrial Machinery reclaimed the top spot, with Construction moving into second place. This represents a change from the previous quarter, which was led by Automotive and Heavy Vehicle Equipment. The Food and Beverages and Furniture sectors also performed well during this quarter.

Looking at the full year, a different picture emerges: Automotive was the largest sector. This is likely due to buyers and suppliers seeking alternatives to JLR during the downtime caused by their cyber hack.

Lead times

Lead times from suppliers have had a steady downward trend over the year and the average of 19 days is down from 20 days in 2024.

About Contract Manufacturing Index

The Contract Manufacturing Index (CMI) has been developed to reflect the total purchasing budget of companies that are looking to outsource subcontract manufacturing of custom made parts in any given month.

This reflects a sample of over 4,000 companies, who have a purchasing budget of more than £6bn and a supplier base sample of over 7,000 vendors, with a verified turnover in excess of £25bn.

We measure this by extracting data from the projects we receive from manufacturing purchasers who have an active need for the services of subcontract engineering suppliers.

Since 2016, we have published the index quarterly and this report is a summary of our findings for the this current quarter. In order to shed more light on the emerging trends, we have also broken this down by process and industry.