According to the Association for manufacturing Technology (AMT), U.S. manufacturing technology orders fell to $421.83 million in November, down 11% from the previous month.
However, with a year-to-date total of over $5.2 billion, 2012 is still up 4.8% compared with 2011, showing continued hope for a banner year in sales.
“Orders for all of 2012 remain full steam ahead, likely on pace to pass the totals of 2011 and echoing the overall strength of manufacturing for the year,” said Douglas K. Woods, AMT President.
“While economic uncertainty remains a concern for both businesses and consumers, we anticipate a steady, albeit slower growth for manufacturing as we begin 2013,” he said.
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.
Northeast Region: Manufacturing technology orders in the Northeast Region in November totaled $66.02 million, up 1.9% from October’s $64.81 million but down 20.8% when compared with the November 2011 figure. At $713.53 million, 2012 year-to-date was down 6.4% when compared with 2011 at the same time.
Southern Region: Southern Region manufacturing technology orders totaled $65.47 million in November, down 6.4% from the $69.98 million total for October but 22.6% higher than the total for November 2011. The year-to-date total of $760.48 million is 17.7% more than the comparable figure for 2011.
Midwest Region: At $129.36 million, November manufacturing technology orders in the Midwest Region were down 20.9% when compared with the $163.55 million total for October and down 13.7% when compared with November a year ago. With a year-to-date total of $1,664.51 million, 2012 was up 3.5% when compared with 2011 at the same time.
Central Region: November manufacturing technology orders in the Central Region totaled $109.15 million, 14.3% lower than October’s $127.32 million and down 13.0% when compared with the November 2011 figure. At $1,458.43 million, the 2012 year-to-date total was 5.6% more than the comparable figure for 2011.
Western Region: Western Region manufacturing technology orders in November stood at $51.82 million, up 7.4% from the October total of $48.23 million and 6.2% higher than the figure for November 2011. The $615.22 million year-to-date total was 6.7% above the total for the same period in 2011.