ROCKVILLE, MD--According to the American Machine Tool Distributors Asssociation (AMTDA) and the Association for Manufacturing Technology, June U.S. machine tool consumption totaled $253 million. This total was down 7.2 percent from May and down 28.5 percent from the $354 million total reported for June 2000. With a year-to-date total of $1.4 billion, 2001 is down 26.7 percent compared with the same period in 2000.

"The general production malaise within the manufacturing sector continues to wreak havoc on machine tool orders," says Ralph Nappi, president of AMTDA. "All regions of the country are experiencing declines for the first half of the year. Future manufacturing investment will depend on how quickly our economy reacts to the fiscal and monetary policies currently being implemented by the government."