U.S. manufacturing technology orders increased 40.7 percent from August to $667.5 million in September, according to AMT, The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTO program, was 13.4 higher than the prior year.
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“In the 17 years that this data has been collected, there is only one other month that broke $600 million. Both of those were in months that reflected sales from IMTS, showing its strength as the largest manufacturing event in the Americas,” Douglas K. Woods, AMT president, said. “It’s possible we could average $450 million a month for all of 2012 – the largest year ever for this program.”
With a year-to-date total of $4.3 billion, manufacturing technology orders so far this year are 5.6 percent above the 2011 level.
The United States Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO) 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 United States.
Northeast Region
September manufacturing technology orders in the Northeast Region were $70.8 million, up 42.6 percent from August but down 37.1 percent compared with September 2011. At $561.9 million, 2012 year-to-date is down 8.4 percent from 2011.
Southern Region
Orders in the Southern Region were $103.1 million in September, 57.9 percent higher than August and 32.1 higher than the prior year. The year-to-date total for the region is 15 percent greater than the comparable figure for 2011.
Midwest Region
At $206.8 million, manufacturing technology orders in the Midwest Region rose 34.2 percent from the prior month and 20.7 percent year-over-year. With a year-to-date total of $1.4 billion, 2012 is 4.5 percent ahead of 2011 year-to-date numbers in the Midwest.
Central Region
Orders for the Central Region were $182.1 million, 43.5 more than August’s numbers and 14.8 percent above September a year ago. At $1.2 billion, the 2012 year-to-date total was 9 percent higher than the comparable figure in 2011.
Western Region
Western Region orders stood at $104.7 million, 33.7 percent greater than the August total and 53.4 more than in September 2011. The $510.1 million year-to-date total improved 8 percent from the prior year.