Orders for machine tools and other manufacturing technology,
as recorded by the U.S. Manufacturing Technology
Consumption survey, declined 4% in February from the
preceding month to $308.5-million. And January’s was 20% below
the average of the three prior months. So the often-seen
first-quarter decline in order levels is again seen this year.
On the other hand, the new February statistics are 4.4%
higher than the figure reported for February a year ago. And,
with a two-month total of $624.3-million, the 2008 USMTC
year-to-date figure is up 1.2% compared to 2007.
Is the government’s stimulus helping? AMT president John B.
Byrd III thinks so. “Industry forecasters called for a first-half
downturn in manufacturing-technology orders,” he says. “The
stimulus package has kept orders from falling in the first
quarter, but the full impact of the package won’t be realized
until the fourth quarter, when the deadline for stimulus benefits
and the industry’s biggest trade event, IMTS 2008, will likely
pull equipment-investment dollars from the first half of both
2008 and 2009.”
The USMTC monthly figures come from a survey of participating
member firms that are part of the distributors’ national trade
group and the Association for Manufacturing Technology, both in
the Washington, D.C., area. Participants tend to lean toward
metalcutting machines: For the first two months, 95% of
USMTC-reported orders were for cutting equipment. According to
the Census bureau, however, shipments (as opposed to orders)
completed last year were only 75% cutting.
Regional orders: For the YTD, the Northeast is up 1.6%, the
South is 33% higher, the Midwest region is 25% ahead of 2007, the
South is down 17.5%, and the West is behind last year by 26%.
In Other Countries…
Orders in Italy for the first quarter edged up 0.3%
compared to the same period in 2007, according to UCIMU – Sistemi
per Produrre (Milan). The trade association’s absolute value
index (the year 2000 = 100) his 123.2, the highest value ever
reached during the January – March period. UCIMU president
Alberto Tacchella notes that strength now comes from domestic
orders, as opposed to export orders.
In Japan, February orders for cutting-type machine
tools, posted by the JMTBA (Tokyo), were up 9% from January and
off a half percent from February of a year before. Total orders
for the first two months are even with last year.
AMT – The Assn. for Mfg. Technology, McLean, Va. 703-893-2900
Amer. Machine Tool Distributors’ Assn., Rockville, Md.
301-738-1200.