ABB announced it has acquired SVIA, a provider in the fast-growing market of robot automation cells for machine tending.

US cutting tool consumption totalled US$173.64 million in April according to the US Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and the Association For Manufacturing Technology (AMT). With a year-to-date total of US$689.76 million, 2016 was down 10.3 percent when compared with 2015.

China plans to support a few key manufacturing projects through 2018 to upgrade its manufacturing sector, a notice by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said.

General Motors (GM) plans to launch a new manufacturing technique that the automaker had spent some two years developing. The new process, scheduled to take place within a few months and was developed in-house, will involve joining aluminium and steel parts and is intended to cut vehicle weight while lowering and simplifying production costs.

The FTSE 100 index lost £38 billion ($55.36 billion) as global stock markets stumbled midst continued uncertainty over the China economy.

US: November US cutting tool consumption totaled US$156.9 million, according to the US Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and AMT (The Association For Manufacturing Technology). This total was down 18.9 percent from October’s total and up 0.4 percent from November 2013. 

“Although this month registered the lowest volume of cutting tool shipments we’ve seen since 2013, this 18.9 percent 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.”

Over at the manufacturing technology segment, AMT said the number was down 15.5 percent from October and down 14.5 percent when compared with the total of US$442.01 million reported for November 2013. 

“Despite a downward monthly trend in manufacturing technology orders, we remain bullish on the US industry market overall, with robust factory production and strong performance in the automotive sector,” said Douglas K Woods, AMT President. 

“Many manufacturers took a ‘pause’ in November to assess the challenges from the previous few months, such as contraction in China, Europe and Russia, less activity from the oil and gas industry due to the dramatic drop in prices and perhaps a little bit of the ‘IMTS Effect’ pulling some sales forward. Overall, however, we anticipate 2015 to be another year of positive growth, with manufacturing leading the US economy.”

US: August manufacturing technology orders totaled US$356.69 million in the US according to AMT — The Association for Manufacturing Technology. This total was up 0.4 percent from July but down 6.0 percent when compared with the total of US$379.26 million reported for August 2013. With a year-to-date total of US$3,076.98 million, 2014 is down 2.4 percent compared with 2013.

“US manufacturing activity remains at a brisk pace, and especially encouraging for manufacturing technology orders was a recent uptick in durable goods orders, particularly in aerospace, automotive, and several other key industries,” said Douglas K Woods, president of AMT. 

“There has also been good news in factory employment as more manufacturers add workers to their payrolls. With AMT’s Global Forecasting & Marketing Conference taking place this week in Detroit featuring some of the top industry analysts and economists, we believe we will be hearing more positive news from their forecasts for the manufacturing technology industry over the next few years.”

Staying in the US, the country’s cutting tool consumption was down 2.7 percent in August, totaling US$166 million, according to the US Cutting Tool Institute and AMT. This figure is also a 3.0 percent drop on the y-o-y numbers. 

“August has traditionally been a period of slower sales for the cutting tool industry due to summer holidays and automotive model change-overs,” said Tom Haag, president of USCTI. “The three-month rolling average actually shows the sales as fairly steady throughout the summer.  The third quarter should close much stronger with September bringing the industry back to full speed and the IMTS exhibition driving new interest with record attendance.”