Gross new orders for U.S. consumption of machine tools that cut and form metal totaled $250.11 million in July, 4.1% lower than June's $260.70 million, according to data jointly released by the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA) and AMT-The Association for Manufacturing Technology. Orders for metal-cutting machine tools in July were $236.28 million, 4.3% lower than June's $246.85 million. Orders for metal-forming machine tools were $13.83 million in July, 0.2% below June's $13.85 million.
Orders of machine tools for U.S. consumption for the first seven months of 2005 totaled $1.713 billion, 14.8% higher than the $1.492 billion recorded during the first seven months of 2004. "Expectations for capital investment will continue, although at a more moderate pace as we move further into the second half of 2005," says Ralph J. Nappi, president of AMTDA.