U.S. Machine Tool Consumption up 27.9% Year-to-date(Pic)

October U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $368.62 million, according to AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology, and AMTDA, the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTC program, was down 9.9 percent from September, but up 41.4 percent from the total of $260.60 million reported for October 2005. With a year-to-date total of $3,188.07 million, 2006 was up 27.9 percent compared with 2005. These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTC program. "It has been two years since there has been two consecutive months with year over year growth as strong as this September and October," says AMT president John B. Byrd III. "This indicates that manufacturing technology equipment order growth is accelerating, not slowing." The United States Machine Tool Consumption (USMTC) 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. Analysis of machine tool consumption provides a reliable leading economic indicator as manufacturing industries invest in capital metalworking equipment to increase capacity and improve productivity. U.S. machine tool consumption is also reported on a regional basis for five geographic break-downs of the United States.