U.S. manufacturing technology orders decreased 31.3 percent from September to October, to $459.2 million, according to AMT, The Association for Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participat­ing in the USMTO program, was down 0.1 percent from October 2011. With a year-to-date total of $4.8 billion, 2012 is up 5.3 percent from 2011.

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 “Orders continue to be on pace for a record-setting year, and a monthly drop was fully ex­pected in the month following IMTS,” Douglas K. Woods, AMT president, said. “While manu­facturing continues to play a strong role in economic recovery, our main concern heading toward the end of the year is that lawmakers do what’s necessary to avoid the ‘fiscal cliff,’ and the impli­cations it could have on the broader economy.”

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
Manufacturing technology orders in the Northeast Region in October were $63.7 million, down 19.7 percent from September and down 3.6 from October 2011. At $640.8 million, 2012 year-to-date is down 5.7 percent from 2011.

Southern Region
Southern Region manufacturing technology orders were $60.7 million in October, down 41.1 percent from September but up 12.8 percent from October 2011. The year-to-date total of $683.2 million is 15.3 percent above 2011.

Midwest Region
At $162.8 million, manufacturing technology orders in the Midwest Region were down 20 percent from September but up 10.3 percent from October a year ago. With a year-to-date total of $1.5 billion, 2012 is up 4.9 percent from 2011.

Central Region
Manufacturing technology orders in the Central Region were $124.8 million, 30.2 percent lower than September and down 8.8 percent from the prior year. At $1.3 billion, the 2012 year-to-date total was 6.8 percent above 2011.

Western Region
Western Region manufacturing technology orders in October were $47.3 million, down 54.6 percent from September and 14.3 percent lower than October 2011. The $557.6 mil­lion year-to-date total was 5.7 percent above 2011.