August Machine Tool Demand up Sharply

Yahoo! ^ | Oct 10, 2004 | Reuters

[Pajama Blogger Reader]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. machine tool demand in August rose sharply from a year earlier as manufacturers ratcheted-up purchases amid signs the economy is improving, two industry trade groups said in a report released on Sunday.

The American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA) and the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) said U.S. machine tool demand stood at $225.52 million in August, up 54.2 percent from $146.27 million in August 2003.

In the first eight months of 2004, machine tool demand stood at $1.779 billion, up 38.4 percent from $1.285 billion in the same 2003 period, according to the report.

"Exhibitors at IMTS (the International Manufacturing Technology Show) didn't need numbers to tell them that a capital recovery is underway," John Byrd, AMT president, said in a statement. "They came away from the show with orders and with a renewed optimism about the growing manufacturing revival."

[Pajama Blogger Reader]

Quite a different impression (good,healthy,optimism) about the economy than what you would have gotten from reading the MSM on Friday's job's report (doom, gloom, bad).

[viaveritasvita]

Thanks for posting this optimistic article. I love it!

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[syriacus]

Nice. Thanks for posting this.

[btcusn]

All I can say is the shop I work at is buying a LOT of new CNC dual spindle lathes and a maching center.
If you are buying equipment, you sure ain't looking at closing the doors.
Jack

[DJtex]

I was happy to hear that Machine Tools is an industry that the USA dominates. We export a lot to Europe and Asia.

[RightWhale]

Machine tools orders lead industrial growth. Looks like some economic boom is on the way. Maybe boom is an unfortunate word these days, considering. Explosive growth? No, still not the right word, aesthetically speaking. Severe upturn?

[gore_sux]

I work for a manufacturing (OEM) company and we are having real trouble getting parts to build machines.

Some of it is because China is sucking up all the steel, but our domestic vendors are having trouble keeping up with demand for parts from us and other OEMs.

I would think the "Rust Belt" would be buzzing right now because of this and high steel prices - how much of Ohio's and Pennsylvania's economy is based on steel manufacturing these days?

[lesser_satan]

I work as an applications engineer for a Minneapolis-based machine tool dealer, and this is the busiest we've been in a long time. We did well through the recession because we pretty much own the medical device manufacturing market, but we're starting to see other industries pick up now, too.

[John Locke]

This is very good news, because a surge in orders for machine tools is the single best indicator of an upturn in the manufacturing sector of the economy. Where the good jobs are.

The other good news, believe it or not, is the high price of oil, because that is going to lead to increased demand for energy-conservation equipment and energy-efficient appliances, areas in which the US is also the world leader.