U.S. machine tools companies who produce cutting tools like lathes might not celebrate the conventional wisdom that the economy is back after seeing cutting tool consumption fall in November of 2014.
American Machinist reports on the November 2014 Cutting Tool Market Report (CTMR) created by the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) in conjunction with the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT):
Domestic machine shops and other manufacturers ordered $159.9 million worth of cutting tool products during November 2014, a drop of 18.9% from the October total but a slight increase (0.4%) from the November 2013 result.
Industry proponents tried to put a positive spin on the poor machine tools numbers, citing strong sales numbers of cutting tools in previous months as the reason for the downward trajectory in November.
“Although this month registered the lowest volume of cutting-tool shipments we’ve seen since 2013, this 18.9% decrease is in part due to the record breaking sales we had in October,” said Brad Lawton, Chairman of AMT’s Cutting Tool Product Group.
“Year-to-date shipments are on par with 2013. As manufacturers’ backlogs continue to grow, we expect shipments to rebound before the end of the year [2014].”
We will see if Lawton’s machine tools projection was correct, as reports for U.S. cutting tool consumption in December 2014 emerge in the next few weeks.
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