December U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $519.98 million according to the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) and the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA). This total, as reported by companies participating in the United States Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO) program, was up 12.2 percent from November and up 12.7 percent when compared with the total of $461.48 million reported for December 2010. With a year-to-date total of $5,508.81 million, 2011 was up 66.4 percent compared with 2010. These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTO program. "USMTO finished its strongest year in more than a decade as manufacturing led the U.S.recovery into 2012," said AMT President Douglas K. Woods. "The 67 percent increase is nearly 20 points higher than forecasters predicted, which is great news in terms of reducing the foreign trade deficit. Manufactured goods represent more than 65 percent of trade, so the rise of U.S. manufactured products will help reduce our reliance on imports and support growth in exports."

The USMTO report, jointly compiled by the two trade associations representing the production and distribution of manufacturing technology, provides regional and national U.S. orders data of domestic and imported machine tools and related equipment. For the full report, please visit the website below.