Orders For Machine Tools Decline In November

ByJohn S. McClenahen The manufacturing recovery reflected in the most recent business activity indexes from the Institute for Supply Management and the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI is not reflected in the most recent U.S. machine tool consumption figures. Gross new orders for U.S. consumption declined 9.7% in November 2002 to $145.52 million. That figure also was 4.3% below the November 2001 total of $152.04 million, report AMT-The Association for Manufacturing Technology and the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association, the trade groups that jointly compile the statistics. In November 2002, consumption of metal-cutting machine tools was $129.45 million, down 4.3% from October's mark. Consumption of metal forming-machine tools was $16.07 million, down 37.8%.