Domestic orders for machine tools and related technologies fell in July for the second consecutive month, from $460.3 million in June to $449.69 million. Moreover, the new total represents a decreased of 10.5% over the total posted for June, $502.33 million.
However, AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology emphasized the current year’s rise over the 2011 total represents progress, and that the summer slowdown is the result of predictable factors. The July result brings the 2012 year-to-date total to $3.1 billion, up 5.4% compared versus a $2.97 billion for the first seven months of 2011.
“It is typical for orders to slow during July and August,” observed AMT president Douglas K. Woods. “That slowdown is even more pronounced in summers ahead of IMTS (the International Manufacturing Technology Show, Sept. 10-15) as manufacturers attending the show wait to take their manufacturing technology ‘shopping lists’ with them to Chicago.”
The AMT compiles the USMTOfrom actual data reported by participating manufacturers and distributors, including both domestic products and imported machines and products.
“With more than 90,000 registrants for IMTS this year, we fully expect order activity to come back strong in the months after the show,” Woods continued.
The USMTO report provides data on regional order activity, too. In the Northeast, new orders for manufacturing technology totaled $64.01 million in July, 1.2% higher than in June ($63.23 million) and 9.2% higher than in July 2011.
The Northeast region’s 2012 year-to-date total is now $441.5 million, 1.3% greater than the $435.7 million posted through the first seven months of 2011.
The Southern region’s machine tool orders totaled $63.87 million in July, 27.1% less than June’s orders, $87.59 million, and 20.1% less than the July 2011 total ($79.9 million.) With a seven-month total of $450.89 million, the 2012 year-to-date total is up 12.0% compared to the seven-month total ($441 2011 at the same time.
Midwestern manufacturing technology orders rose 2.7% in July, finishing at $138.64 million, compared to $135.06 million in June, down 7.8% from the July 2011 figure ($150.43 million.)
The region’s year-to-date total is $1,006.66 million, 1.1% more than the year-to-date total for July 2011.
In the Central states, July machine tool orders dropped 16.1% to $113.43 million, from $135.12 million in June, but the new total was a rise of 6.8% over the July 2011 total, $782.89 million. At $906.26 million, the region’s 2012 year-to-date sales total is 15.8% higher than the it was at the comparable point in 2011.
Finally, the Western region posted July machine tool sales totaling $69.74 million, a remarkable 77.4% increase from June’s $39.31 million total, but a 34.9% decline compared to July 2011’s result, $107.13.
The West’s year-to-date total is $326.97 million, a decline of 7.9% compared to the $355.0 million posted through seven months of 2011.
