U.S. Machine Tool Orders Rose 11.3% in March

Orders for new machine tools and related technology rose to $495.97 million in March versus $444.06 million in February, and brought the first quarter of 2012 to a close with orders totaling $1.356 billion, a 12.9% improvement over the total for the comparable period of 2011. However, the latest month’s total represents a 1.4% drop compared with March 2011 result of $502.89 million. “Manufacturing is expanding with no clear signal of a downturn in sight,” stated Douglas K. Woods, AMT president. “Manufacturing added 34,000 jobs in March, capacity utilization is just shy of 80%, and USMTO order growth confounds experts as it climbed 12% over 2011 levels,” Woods continued. “However, remaining obstacles to future manufacturing investment include a lack of access to credit, global supply issues, encroaching industry regulations and taxes, and overall political uncertainty.”
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