Industry News:

Manufacturing Technology Orders Up 8.8% in 2012

June U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $462.95 million according to the Association For Manufacturing Technology (AMT). This total, as reported by companies participating in the United States Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO) program, was down 0.6 percent from May and down 1.8 percent when compared with the total of $471.49 million reported for June 2011. With a year-to-date total of $2,682.37 million, 2012 is up 8.8 percent compared with 2011.

These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTO program.

“Suppliers to technology builders are experiencing a backlog two to three times above normal levels, and consequently growth in manufacturing technology orders has slowed. A significant uptick in order activity is expected after IMTS (the International Manufacturing Technology Show),” said Douglas K. Woods, AMT President. “Along with monthly gains in industrial production, manufacturing payrolls also saw gains for the second consecutive month — an indicator that companies are both confident and optimistic that demand will increase.”

The USMTO report, jointly compiled by the two trade associations representing the production and distribution of manufacturing technology, provides regional and national U.S. consumption data of domestic and imported machine tools and related equipment.  Analysis of machine tool consumption provides a reliable leading economic indicator as manufacturing industries invest in capital metalworking equipment to increase capacity and improve productivity.