11 Mar 2015--

What is the Cutting Tool Market Report?

The Cutting Tool Market Report (CTMR) program measures gross cutting tool shipments each month based on data collected from manufacturers by the United States Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology. The report provides national U.S consumption data of domestic and imported tools, including domestically produced and imported. 

What are cutting tools?

Cutting tools are used in machine tools to shape raw material into parts or remove additional material from existing parts. Examples of cutting tools include drills, countersinks, taps, milling cutters, boring bars, indexable inserts, and many others. 

Why is the CTMR important?

Cutting tools are a consumable product used to turn raw materials into intermediate goods and intermediate goods into finished goods. Because tooling needs to be replaced relatively frequently, trends in U.S. cutting tool shipments are a good measure of overall manufacturing activity. Official Census statistics on cutting tools are only published once a year, so the monthly CTMR figures are important to business owners and decision makers who need a more frequent indicator of market conditions. Cutting tools have much shorter lead times than machine tools and other capital equipment, which means sales figures are much less volatile from month to month and react more quickly to changes in manufacturing activity. 

Who owns the CTMR?

The report is a joint effort of the United States Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology. Each organization collects and reports statistics via survey, and the CTMR figures represent a combined total after accounting for overlapping survey contributions. 


Contact:

Andrew Taggart
AMT Communications Coordinator
703-827-5297
Ataggart@AMTonline.org