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Manufacturing technology orders down in July

July U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $354.63 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 down 11.5 percent from June and down 1.4 percent when compared with the total of $359.70 million reported for July 2013. With a year-to-date total of $2,711.36 million, 2014 is down 2.3 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.

“We continue to see manufacturing as a leading player in the U.S. economy. While manufacturing technology orders were down for the month, we believe we are coming into an environment ripe for capital investment,” said AMT President Douglas K. Woods. “With a strong PMI reading in July and a record high for U.S. exports, manufacturing shows no signs of slowing. Additionally, as capital equipment is reaching an advanced age and interest rates are continuing to stay low, we believe we will see strong order activity in the months following IMTS.”

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— Year-to-date manufacturing technology orders in the Northeast Region through July totaled $430.85 million, off 8.4 percent when compared with 2013 at the same time.

Southeast Region— At $245.17 million, 2014 year-to-date manufacturing technology orders in the Southeast Region were down 2.4 percent when compared with the total for 2013 at the same time.

North Central-East Region— July manufacturing technology orders in the North Central-East Region totaled $91.30 million, down 21.9 percent from June’s $116.87 million, but up 10.3 percent when compared with the $82.79 million figure for July 2013. With a year-to-date total of $754.86 million, 2014 was 5.9 percent higher than the 2013 total at the same time.

North Central-West Region— June manufacturing technology orders in the North Central-West Region totaled $82.90 million, up 47.8 percent when compared with May’s $56.10 million and 8.6 percent more than the June 2013 total of $76.36 million.

South Central Region— At $65.07 million, July manufacturing technology orders in the South Central Region were up 14.9 percent from June’s $56.63 million and up 6.9 percent from the $60.85 million total for July 2013. Year-to-date orders totaled $434.78 million, 0.3 percent more than the comparable figure for 2013.