Orders for manufacturing technology climbed month-to-month and year-to-date in December 2017, according to the latest U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders report from AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. Orders totaled $447 million for the month, up 6 percent compared to November. At a cumulative total of $4.5 billion for the year, orders were up 8 percent compared to the year-end total in 2016.
“The year ended as market growth looks to pick up speed in the first quarter of 2018 with the only constraint to growth being builders' ability to deliver product fast enough,” said AMT President Douglas K. Woods. “This has been exacerbated by recent rebounds in both the EU and Chinese manufacturing sectors significantly increasing the demand side of the equation.”
The U.S. market was strong across all the regional markets with the North Central East region falling less than a percent after posting the fourth best monthly total in December. October and November registered the second and third best months of the year resulting in a stellar fourth quarter for the region. The South Central region, which suffered the most in the past downturn, posted a nearly 30 percent increase over November levels and was nearly 60 percent up for the year relative to 2016. Energy exploration orders have made a modest comeback in 2017, but this region’s growth was due to significant increases in orders from the job shop, metalworking, auto and food processing industries.
For more detail on U.S. manufacturing technology orders, including data on a regional basis for six geographic breakdowns, download the PDF below.
