The president of the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA) warned in the U.S. Machine Tool Consumption report that energy costs, labor talks, and Congress will make manufacturers more cautious about capitalequipment purchases in the second half of 2005.
"It is likely the second half of the year will yield a more deliberate and cautious approach to capital investments due to increasing energy costs, labor negotiations, and the inability of Congress to address manufacturing issues," says Ralph J. Nappi in the monthly report by AMTDA and AMT — The Association For Manufacturing Technology. He notes that U.S. manufacturing's steady capital investment continues to drive machine tool orders but it varies based on the manufacturing sectors within each geographic region.
The USMTC report shows May machine tool consumption totaled $249.79 million, 4.4% higher than April and 22.7% more than reported for May orders total $1,203.89 million, 17.9% more compared with 2004.
The regional breakdown for May 2005 and its comparison to April 2005 are:
