March U.S. manufacturing technology consumption (USMTC) totaled $258 million, according to the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA, www.amtda.org) and AMT—The Association for Manufacturing Technology (www.amtonline.org). This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTC program, was up 58% from February and up 50% from the $173 million reported for March 2009. With a year-to-date total of $549 million, 2010 is up 34% compared with 2009. These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTC program.
"The March increase in manufacturing technology orders is further proof that the recovery is accelerating," said Peter Borden, AMTDA president. "The number is encouraging considering that bank lending is still anemic and that Congress has done little to help manufacturing, such as re-passing the bonus depreciation tax bill or R&D credits. We still expect some ebb and flow for the rest of the year because of the uncertainties in the world economy."
The USMTC report, jointly compiled by the two trade associations representing the production and distribution of manufacturing technology, provides data on U.S. consumption of domestic and imported machine tools and related equipment. Analysis of manufacturing technology consumption provides an economic indicator as manufacturing industries invest in capital metalworking equipment to increase capacity and improve productivity.
At $36 million, March manufacturing technology consumption in the Northeast Region was up 34% from February and up 11% more than the 2009 total at the same time. Southern Region manufacturing technology consumption in March rose to $44 million, a rise of 133% when compared with February and up 127% over March 2009.
Manufacturing technology consumption in the Midwest Region totaled $77 million, up 82% over February and up 43% from the previous year. With a total of $64 million, Central Region manufacturing technology consumption in March was 20% higher than February and up 38% over March 2009. Totaling $37 million, Western Region manufacturing technology consumption in March rose 68% over the previous month and was 73% higher than March 2009.
