After a minor dip in July, U.S. machine tool consumption for August increased according to the United States Machine Tool Consumption report from The American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA) and AMT — The Association For Manufacturing Technology. August machine tool consumption totaled $286.86 million, 25.8 percent higher than July and 38.1 percent higher than the total reported for August 2004.
AMT President John B. Byrd III says that with Hurricane Katrina aside, orders were relatively strong except inthe South and that the region's reconstruction efforts from the storm are expected to drive an increase in manufacturing capacity needs.
Compared with 2004, 2005's year-to-date $1,974.60 million total is up 16.2 percent.
The regional breakdown for August 2005 and its comparison to July are:
Purple=West - $43.85 million/+41.8 percent
Green=Central - $77.11 million/+60.3 percent
Yellow=South - $43.35 million/-1.3 percent
Red=Midwest - $88.85 million/+10.6 percent
Blue=Northeast - $33.70 million/+36.5 percent