April U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $410.42 million, according to The Association for Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders program, was down 17 percent from March, but up 2.9 percent up when compared with $398.73 million in April 2011. With a year-to-date total of $1.76 billion, 2012 is up 10.2 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.

“Year-to-date orders of manufacturing technology are up a solid 10 percent over 2011,” said Doug Woods, AMT president. “Manufacturing firms continue to hire, with year-over-year unemployment down from nearly 10 percent in 2011 to a little under 7 percent this year. In the first quarter, U.S. manufacturing technology exports rose consistently and factory productivity increased 5 percent. What remains to be seen is whether overseas instability and possible cooling of domestic investment will disrupt continued growth.”

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 April totaled $66.31 million, down 7.5 percent from March’s $71.67 million, but up 11.8 percent when compared with the April 2011 figure. At $248.29 million, 2012 year-to-date was up 2.7 percent when compared with 2011 at the same time.

Southern Region
Southern Region manufacturing technology orders totaled $50.85 million in April, a 28.6 percent decrease from the $71.24 million total for March and 1.1 percent less than the total for April 2011. The year-to-date total of $217.96 million was 8.5 percent more than the comparable figure for 2011.

Midwest Region
At $125.73 million, April manufacturing technology orders in the Midwest Region fell 16.9 percent when compared with the $151.29 million total for March, but were up 2.9 percent when compared with April a year ago. With a year-to-date total of $586.70 million, 2012 is up 9.1 percent when compared with 2011 at the same time.

Central Region
April manufacturing technology orders in the Central Region totaled $128.96 million, 14.4 percent less than March’s $150.59 million, but up 4.2 percent when compared with the April 2011 figure. At $540.11 million, the 2012 year-to-date total was 17.3 percent more than the comparable figure for 2011.

Western Region
Western Region manufacturing technology orders in April stood at $38.57 million, 22.7 percent less than the March total of $49.91 million and 8.4 percent lower than the figure for April 2011. The $170.70 million year-to date total was 6.9 percent above the total for the same period in 2011.