The CTMR is compiled and reported jointly by the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute and AMT – the Association for Manufacturing Technology. The two partners represent manufacturers (USCTI) and consumers and distributors (AMT) of cutting tools, which are essential consumable products in machining and manufacturing activity. As such, the CTMR offers a perspective on manufacturing volume and activity from month to month.

As an indicator of market activity, the CTMR has some similarity to the monthly U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders report, issued by AMT, though cutting tool consumption relates to the volume of manufacturing activity, rather than investments in new or replacement capacity.

The latest USMTO showed a two-month decline in machine tool orders.

“June represents the strongest sales numbers in 2014,” noted Tom Haag, president of USCTI, “which projects optimism for the remainder of the year. This strong month has continued to gain ground versus 2013 sales for the fifth consecutive month and sets the stage for surpassing last year’s totals.”