With a year-to-date total of more than $3.4 billion, U.S. manufacturing technology orders more than doubled over 2010. August numbers fell from July, down about 9% to less than $461 million, but show an increase of more than 88% over August 2010, according to the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO) report compiled by the Assn. for Manufacturing Technology (AMT, www.amtonline.org) and the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Assn. (AMTDA, www.amtda.org).

“Despite news reports that wider economic growth may be stagnating, the manufacturing technology industry is sustaining its momentum," said Douglas Woods, AMT president. "With orders still up substantially over last year, there is clearly optimism within the industry as firms are seeing future growth opportunities that merit new capital investment."

All regions of the United States show significant year-to-date growth over 2010, but a couple took big hits in August orders compared with July. The Western region, though double where it stood year-to-date in 2010, saw manufacturing technology orders fall more than 50% from July to August this year. The Southern region, up 81% year-to-date, fell 23% month-to-month. The Northeast and Central regions both experienced growth in August—more than 30% in the Central region.