At $43.4 million for Q1 2009, shipments of workholding equipment were down 31.7% from Q1 2008, according to the Advanced Workholding Technology (AWT) Group of AMT -- The Association For Manufacturing Technology.
The Advanced Workholding Technology Group is comprised of AMT members who produce chucks, jaws, collets, vises, fixtures and other workholding equipment.
Workholding equipment shipments within the U.S.by the 34 companies participating in the AWT statistical report totaled $38.4 million while exports amounted to $4.9 million.
The report from the AWT shows that domestic workholding equipment shipments decreased 23.6% and U.S. exports decreased 26.9% from Q4 2008. The Midwest remained the largest domestic destination with 40.8% of total domestic Q1 shipments going to that region, although this represents a slight decline from fourth quarter 2008. The West lost 0.1%, bringing it to 10.7%, whereas the Northeast region lost 0.4% to account for 12.8% of domestic shipments in Q1. The Central and South regions increased market share slightly, making up 19.2% and 16.5% of domestic shipments, respectively. Additionally, first quarter 2009 employment levels were down 8.2% from fourth quarter 2008 and down 9.6% when compared to the Q1 of 2008.
