December U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $406.7 million, according to AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTO program, was down 2 percent from December 2015, but up 20.6 percent from November.
Total orders for 2016 were valued at $4,013.1 million compared to $4,178.2 million in 2015
As orders have pulled to near-even with levels seen before the latest dip, the general manufacturing economy is showing signs of growth. The January PMI from the Institute for Supply Management was 56, indicating expansion in manufacturing for the fifth consecutive month. There was also growth in capacity utilization and industrial production in December, the most recent month for which data are available. In addition to those indicators, two other measures suggest a likely boost in capital spending for equipment and machinery: cutting tool consumption and spending from machine shops.
“There has been a significant uptick in shipments for cutting tools, the primary consumable in the manufacturing process, and machine shop spending for the month was up 32 percent from November,” said AMT president Douglas K. Woods. “Since large manufacturers will leverage their supply chain’s capital equipment before expanding their own capacity, gains for machine shop investment are promising because they typically mark an overall greater need for capacity, and a broader upturn on the horizon.”
