Machine tool consumption continues rise

By Plant Engineering Staff December 14, 2005

October U.S. machine tool consumption totaled $277.53 million, according to the Association For Manufacturing Technology, and the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association. This total was down 5.2% from September but up 25.4% from the total of $221.31 million reported for October 2004. With a year-to-date total of $2,549.50 million, 2005 is up 11.3% compared with 2004.

The United States Machine Tool Consumption report, jointly compiled by the two trade associations representing the production and distribution of manufacturing technology, provides regional and national U.S. consumption data of domestic and imported machine tools and related equipment. 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 significant increase in October durable goods orders reported by the U.S. Commerce Dept. supports the continued strong demand in manufacturing technology,” said John B. Byrd III, AMT President. “This also reflects the need for U.S. manufacturing to modernize their facilities to better compete in the global marketplace.”