MCLEAN, VA — October U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $417.80 million, according to The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTO program, was down 35 percent from September and down 6.2 percent when compared with the total of $445.64 million reported for October 2013. With a year-to-date total of $4.15 billion, 2014 is up 3.8 percent compared with 2013.

The report is based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTO program.

“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. The monthly drop from October isn’t unexpected, as since 1998 orders have dropped an average of 24 percent in any month following IMTS,” said
Douglas K. Woods, president, The Association For Manufacturing Technology. “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.”

The United States Manufacturing Technology Orders report, compiled by the trade association representing the production and distribution of manufacturing technology, provides regional and national U.S. orders data of domestic and imported machine tools and related equipment. Analysis of manufacturing technology orders provides a leading economic indicator as manufacturing industries invest in capital metalworking equipment to increase capacity and improve productivity.

For more information, visit www.AMTonline.org.