U.S. manufacturers ordered $417.80 million worth of new machine tools and related technology during October, a steep decline (-35.0%) from the September result, and also down 6.2% from the October 2013 total. Even so, the new figure brings the year-to-date total for U.S. manufacturing technology orders to $4.15 billion, up 3.8% compared to the ten-month total for 2013.
The information is reported by AMT – the Association for Manufacturing Technology in its monthly U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders report. USMTO figures are based on actual data reported by participating manufacturers and distributors, and cover both domestically sourced and imported metal-cutting equipment and metal forming and fabricating equipment.
The month-to-month decline for October is not unexpected, coming as it does after IMTS 2014, staged during the previous month. That biennial event typically causes orders machine tool orders to spike for the concurrent month – as in September’s result, which totaled $647.63 million and rose 77.3% over the August figure.
The 3.8% edge for 2014 manufacturing technology orders versus the 2013 pace is the more significant figure, showing some progress during a year which has seen tepid demand and slow sales during most months until September.
“As we move toward the end of 2014, we saw much of what we predicted for manufacturing technology orders through the year – low growth, but stability for order volume,” according to AMT president Douglas K. Woods. “We continue to see growth in key industries, like automotive, medical, and aerospace. We believe the environment will stay ripe for capital equipment investment in 2015 and bring more good news for manufacturing overall.”
