April U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $384.8 million according to AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTO program, was down 8.1 percent from March’s $418.7 million and down 1 percent when compared to April 2014.
“Right now capital equipment makers are feeling the effects of a stronger dollar, which creates a drag on exports, and lower oil and natural gas prices, which means less spending on equipment investments from the energy industry," said Douglas K. Woods, AMT president. "But what is a negative now should help us later – imported components for capital equipment are costing less, and businesses will accumulate savings from lower fuel prices in the coming months, meaning more money for capital investment. We believe investment in manufacturing will remain steady, and overall performance for the year will be as strong as we saw in 2013 and 2014."
Northeast Region
Northeast Region manufacturing technology orders in April stood at $66 million, 11.5 percent less than the $74.6 million total for March but 6.9 percent more than the $61.7 million for April 2014.
Southeast Region
Year-to-date manufacturing technology orders for the Southeast Region totaled $127.4 million, down 14.3 percent from the 2014 total at the same time.
North Central-East Region
With an April total of $127.6 million, North Central-East Region manufacturing technology orders were up 4.1 percent from the $122.5 million tally for March and up 29.9 percent when compared with April a year ago. Year-to-date orders totaled $417.4 million, down 10.5 percent from the comparable figure for 2014.
North Central-West Region
Manufacturing technology orders in the North Central-West Region in April totaled $69.1 million, 4.8 percent more than in April 2014.
South Central Region
South Central Region year-to-date manufacturing technology orders for 2015 totaled $124.4 million, down 47.9 percent from the comparable figure for 2014.
