New U.S. orders posted in May for manufacturing technology, at $388.3-million, fell slightly (-3%) from April but were up 121% from May of 2010.

The year-to-date total for 2011 comes to $1,984.9-million. That’s up 108% compared to 2010.

Peter Borden, who heads the distributors’ national group that, with AMT, compiles the surveyed numbers, comments that the figures “confirm our members’ reports of continued strong project levels by manufacturing companies to improve productivity.”

The two trade associations jointly assemble the orders statistics from participating member firms. The survey has just been re-named the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders program. It formerly was known as the USMT “Consumption” series, dating back to when the National Machine Tool Builders’ Assn. (now AMT) issued monthly reports on “orders for consumption” (as opposed to orders for inventory).

Breakdown of the May $388.3-million total is presented in the map. On a year-to-date basis, the Northeast region is running 93% ahead of 2010, the South is better by 57%, the Midwest is running 168% more than last year, the Central region is 107% higher, and the West is up two-thirds.

Amer. Machine Tool Distributors’ Assn., Rockville, Md. 301-738-1200

AMT – The Assn. for Mfg. Technology, McLean, Va. 703-893-2900.