December U.S. manufacturing technology consumption rose almost 41% over November, ending the year on a strong note, according to the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Assn. (AMTDA) and the Assn. for Manufacturing Technology (AMT). The year overall ended at $3.24 billion, up more than 85% over 2009.
Based on data reported by companies participating in the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Consumption (USMTC) program, consumption totaled close to $445 million in December 2010, showing considerable improvement over November, which had dropped almost 18% from the previous month. Compared with the same month in 2009, December numbers more than doubled, up almost 105%.
Recovering from a particularly bad 2009, manufacturing technology consumption has seen several good months recently compared with the previous year. “For the first time in USMTC history, we experienced four months of consecutive growth following an IMTS when compared with 2009 numbers, ending the year on a solid upswing,” says
Douglas K. Woods, AMT’s president. “With backlogs firming and quotation levels accelerating, we are very optimistic that the industry will see strong results in 2011.”
The Midwest region of the U.S. showed particular improvement over 2009, up almost 170% in December over December 2009, and 105% higher for the 2010 total over the previous year. Midwest consumption for 2010 was more than $1 billion.
The Northeast saw the smallest year-over-year gain in December, but it was still considerable at almost 53%. Regional consumption for 2010 was $590 million, up almost 75% over 2009.
Other annual regional reporting includes a year-end total of $430 million for the South, a rise of 76% from 2009; $835 million for the Central region, up 96% from 2009; and $360 million for the West, up more than 50% compared with 2009.
