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Manufacturing Continues Its Roll

A report from AMT the (Association For Manufacturing Technology) and AMTA (the American Machine Toll Distributers’ Association) that sums up manufacturing technology orders for 2011 is now available, called the USMTO.

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A report from AMT (the Association For Manufacturing Technology and AMTA (the American Machine Toll Distributers’ Association) that sums up manufacturing technology orders for 2011 is now available, called the USMTO (the United States Manufacturing Technology Orders report).

The results are in, and it was a good year. The main takeaway is that orders for the technology we use in manufacturing were up by 66.4 percent in 2011.

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This speaks to the continued efforts by domestic manufacturers to upgrade technology and make the business of making things globally competitive. Manufacturing technology allows shops to do more with less, which lowers costs of doing business.

Most of the shops I visit tell me that these investments are paying off in the form of work being moved back to the U.S. Of course, the macro situation is more complex than just installing new technology, but investing new or newer technology is an important factor.

According to Douglas Woods, president of AMT, “The almost 67 percent increase is almost 20 points higher than forecasters predicted, which is great news in terms of reducing the foreign trade deficit. The USMTO report finished its strongest year in more than a decade as manufacturing led the U.S. recovery into 2012.”

Click here to read the report in detail.