August manufacturing technology orders up slightly

August U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $356.69 million according to AMT - The Association for Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the United States Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO) program, was up 0.4 percent from July but down 6.0 percent when compared with the total of $379.26 million reported for August 2013. With a year-to-date total of $3,076.98 million, 2014 is down 2.4 percent compared with 2013.

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

“U.S. manufacturing activity remains at a brisk pace, and especially encouraging for manufacturing technology orders was a recent uptick in durable goods orders, particularly in aerospace, automotive, and several other key industries,” said AMT President Douglas K. Woods. “There has also been good news in factory employment as more manufacturers add workers to their payrolls. With AMT’s Global Forecasting & Marketing Conference taking place this week in Detroit featuring some of the top industry analysts and economists, we believe we will be hearing more positive news from their forecasts for the manufacturing technology industry over the next few years.”

The 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.

NOTE: AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology’s intent is to always provide timely and accurate economic reports to our community. For this reason, we are making an adjustment to the USMTO report. Due to a change in survey participants the year over year comparison number for Metal Forming and Fabricating is not an accurate reflection of the data. We have adjusted the data for the past 12 months to take this change into consideration. The new chart reflects a consistent year over year comparison of the data at the current participation level.

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

Northeast Region — At $60.40 million, August manufacturing technology orders in the Northeast Region were down 2.1 percent when compared with last August’s $61.69 million. The year-to-date total of $495.75 million was 6.8 percent less than the equivalent figure for 2013.

Southeast Region — At $287.94 million, 2014 year-to-date manufacturing technology orders in the Southeast Region were 0.5 percent higher than the comparable figure for 2013.

North Central-East Region — August manufacturing technology orders in the North Central-East Region stood at $87.42 million, down 4.2 percent from July’s $91.25 million and down 11.5 percent when compared with the $98.83 million tally in August 2013. The 2014 year-to-date total of $844.02 million was 4.0 percent more than the 2013 total at the same time.

North Central-West Region — North Central-West Region manufacturing technology orders in August totaled $65.35 million, down 6.8 percent when compared with the $70.12 million for August 2013. With a year-to-date total of $507.68 million, 2014 was off 12.9 percent compared with 2013 at the same time.

South Central Region — Year-to-date manufacturing technology orders in the South Central Region totaled $482.12 million, 1.2 percent less than the comparable figure for 2013.