August U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $460.61 million according to the Association for Manufacturing Technology and the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association.

This total was down 9.4% from July but up 88.5% when compared with the total of $244.35 million reported for August 2010. With a year-to-date total of $3,439.21 million, 2011 is up 101.0% compared with 2010.

"Despite news reports that wider economic growth may be stagnating, the manufacturing technology industry is sustaining its momentum, said Douglas Woods, AMT president. "With orders still up substantially over last year, there is clearly optimism within the industry as firms are seeing future growth opportunities that merit new capital investment."

In the Northeast region manufacturing technology orders totaled $64.32 million in August, 9.5% more than the $58.72 million total for July and 64.4% higher than the total for August 2010. At $500.03 million, 2011 year-to-date is up 64.0% when

In the Southern region orders totaled $58.18 million, down 23.0% when compared with the $75.55 million total for July but up 90.1% when compared with August a year ago. The year-to-date total of $440.45 million is 81.1% more than the comparable figure for 2010.

In the Midwest Region orders totaled $144.68 million, 9.3% less than July’s $159.53 million but up 77.4% when compared with the August 2010 figure. With a year-to-date total of $1,162.38 million, 2011 is up 128.9% when compared with 2010 at the same time.

In the Central region orders stood at $140.07 million, 30.5% more than the July total of $107.34 million and 115.5% higher when compared with last August. At $928.03 million, the 2011 year-to-date total is 105.6% more than the comparable figure for 2010.

Manufacturing technology orders in the Western Region in August totaled $53.35 million, down 50.2% from July’s $107.13 million but up 90.1% when compared with the August 2010 figure. The $408.31 million year-to-date tally is 100.6% higher than the total for the same period in 2010.