March U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $495.97 million, according to The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders program, was up 11.3 percent from February, but down 1.4 percent when compared with the total of $502.89 million reported for March 2011. With a year-to-date total of $1,356.70 million, 2012 is up 12.9 percent compared with 2011.

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

“Manufacturing is expanding with no clear signal of a downturn in sight,” said Douglas K. Woods, AMT president. “Manufacturing added 34,000 jobs in March, capacity utilization is just shy of 80 percent and USMTO order growth confounds experts as it climbed 12 percent over 2011 levels. However, remaining obstacles to future manufacturing investment include a lack of access to credit, global supply issues, encroaching industry regulations and taxes, and overall political uncertainty,” he said.

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

U.S. manufacturing technology orders are also reported on a regional basis for five geographic breakdowns of the U.S.

Northeast Region

Manufacturing technology orders in the Northeast region in March totaled $71.80 million, up 34.2 percent from February’s $53.51 million, but down 7.4 percent when compared with the March 2011 figure. At $182.11 million, 2012 year-to-date was down 0.2 percent when compared with 2011 at the same time.

Southern Region

Southern region manufacturing technology orders totaled $71.24 million in March, a 34 percent increase from the $53.18 million total for February and 16.1 percent more than the total for March 2011. The year-to-date total of $167.11 million was 11.7 percent more than the comparable figure for 2011.

Midwest Region

At $152.39 million, March manufacturing technology orders in the Midwest region fell 8.4 percent when compared with the $166.39 million total for February and were down 19.8 percent when compared with March a year ago. With a year-to-date total of $463.20 million, 2012 is up 11.5 percent when compared with 2011 at the same time.

Central Region

March manufacturing technology orders in the Central region totaled $149.39 million, 13.9 percent more than February’s $131.18 million and up 17.8 percent when compared with the March 2011 figure. At $410.82 million, the 2012 year-to-date total was 22.0 percent more than the comparable figure for 2011.

Western Region

Western region manufacturing technology orders in March stood at $51.15 million, 23.3 percent more than the February total of $41.50 million and 8.6 percent higher than the figure for March 2011. The $133.46 million year-to-date total was 13.6 percent above the total for the same period in 2011.