According to the Association for Manufacturing Technology, U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $410.42 million in April.

This represented a 17 percent drop-off from March totals, but a 2.9 percent increase from the total reported in April 2011, of $398.73 million.

“Year-to-date orders of manufacturing technology are up a solid 10 percent over 2011,” said AMT President Doug Woods.“Manufacturing firms continue to hire, with year-over-year unemployment down from nearly 10 percent in 2011 to a little under 7 percent this year. In the first quarter, U.S. manufacturing technology exports rose consistently and factory productivity increased 5 percent."

Woods added that the industry is waiting to see if overseas instability and a possible decrease in domestic investment will interfere with continued growth.

Delphi Automotive recently announced that company was awarded a $3.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a versatile and highly energy efficient method of micro-machining complex shapes, which could spur some manufacturing technology orders in the coming months.