U.S. manufacturing technology consumption was up more than 81% in November over the previous year, but slipped almost 18% from October's levels, according to the American Machine Tool Distributors' Assn. (AMTDA, www.amtda.org) and the Assn. for Manufacturing Technology (AMT, www.amtonline.org).
With November manufacturing technology consumption at just over $318 million, the 2010 year-to-date total is almost $2.8 billion, according to data reported by companies participating in the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Consumption (USMTC) program.
Forecasts suggest activities will continue to slow, but Peter Borden, AMTDA's president, contends that the November numbers reflect a continuing rebound of the U.S. manufacturing sector. "Confidence in 2011 is growing, and purchases are being made despite the capacity rates being below the threshold when this normally occurs," he says. "Backlogs and deliveries are lengthening while prices are increasing as supply lines struggle to meet the surprising surge in demand."
All regions of the U.S. were down in November, but the Northeast took the biggest hit, with its manufacturing technology consumption falling almost 36% in November over the previous month. Still, the November total of almost $63 million was up more than 92% compared with the previous November.
The Western region, though showing a relatively moderate drop in November of less than 8% from October, had the smallest year-to-date gain of the bunch, up just over 45% from 2009. The region's November consumption of more than $37 million is up more than 91% from November 2009.
The trends held for the Southern, Midwest and Central regions as well, with November numbers dropping from October but rising year-over-year.
