Machine Tool Orders Rose in November

Orders for machine tools rose in November after dropping a month earlier, leaving orders for new metal-cutting and forming equipment on track to end the year on a high note, industry statistics showed. Orders rose 0.8% to $474 million from a revised $471 million in October, according to the Assn. for Manufacturing Technology and the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Assn. Previously, October orders were estimated at $484 million. A bulk of the gains by region “can be attributed to capital investment by the technology and aerospace sectors,” said Ralph Nappi, president of the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Assn. For the year to date, orders increased 1.4% to about $5.4 billion.