June U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $459.39 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 USMTO program, was up 15.3 percent from May and up 91.7 percent when compared with the total of $239.68 million reported for June 2010. With a year-to-date total of $2,453.78 million, 2011 is up 103.9 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. "At this pace, the industry would post orders equal to all of 2010 by the end of August," said Douglas K. Woods, president of AMT. "Still, industry leaders view the rest of 2011 with cautious optimism given the weakness in parts of the economy illustrated by the Dow's plunge at the beginning of August. We expect a bump in orders related to customers taking advantage of the current Bonus Depreciation rate before it is reduced in 2012."

The United States Manufacturing Technology Orders (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. Analysis of manufacturing technology orders provides a reliable leading economic indicator as manufacturing industries invest in capital metalworking equipment to increase capacity and improve productivity.