MAPI releases report showing MH manufacturing orders flat for 1st quarter

The Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI) quarterly report for the three months ending January 2013 shows new orders for the material handling segment flat. This report, with a detailed look at the health of the domestic manufacturing sector, reviews the performance of a selected group of its most important sectors. Material handling equipment new orders, consisting of elevators, escalators, conveyors, hoists, overhead cranes, industrial trucks, tractors and trailers showed orders flat as compared with one year ago. Material handling equipment imports increased 4 percent while exports declined 2 percent; the trade deficit moved into a deficit in the fourth quarter of 2012 from a surplus one year ago.