Domestic shipments of workholding equipment totaled $45.7 million in the second quarter of 2010, according to the Association for Manufacturing Technology, and exports totaled $8.1 million. The figures indicate an increase of 7.4 percent for domestic shipments and 9.4% for exports.
Notably, total workholding shipments for the second quarter increased 46.3 percent from the same period of 2009.
The AMT is the trade association representing the domestic precision manufacturing and machine tool industries. AMT’s Advanced Workholding Group is comprised of 37 companies that produce chucks, jaws, collets, vises, fixtures, and other workholding equipment. All AWT companies are members of AMT, but any OEM workholding manufacturer or sole U.S.-based distributor of a foreign-sourced workholding product line may participate in the monthly AWT statistical program.
In regional activity, second-quarter workholding shipments in the Midwest increased 9.2 percent from Q1 2010. The Midwest continues to be the largest domestic market for workholding equipment demand, with 40.5 percent of all domestic shipments.
The Central region’s shipments increased 4.8 percent, gaining 18.4 percent of the domestic market share. The increase in demand in this region pushed the Central region ahead of the Northeast in domestic market share.
Shipments to the Northeast rose 2.7 percent, giving that region 16.4 percent of the domestic market.
In the South, second-quarter shipments rose 7.9 percent from Q1, representing 13.8 percent of the domestic market.
Workholding shipments to the Western region were 11.0 percent of the domestic market, a 6.5-percent increase from Q1.
The AMT group also noted that second quarter 2010 employment levels were up 1.0 percent from first quarter 2010, but increased just 0.1 percent versus the second quarter of 2009.