The majority of AMT's members are small businesses. They build and provide to a wide range of industries the tools of manufacturing technology including cutting, grinding, forming and assembly machines, as well as inspection and measuring machines, and automated manufacturing systems. Everything in this hearing room, except for the people, was either made by a machine tool or made by a machine made by a machine tool. Our industry is very cyclical. Price pressures are very strong, and profitability is relatively low C even in good years.
Imports represent about half of domestic consumption.
When a factory does decide to invest in new capital equipment, the old machinery is not thrown in the trash heap. Instead, companies, who lack the resources for new machines, purchase these overage machines, often altering them to fit their needs. This process is repeated, as newer machines are acquired and older ones resold. In addition, as a result of base closures over the past few years, the Defense Department has resold over 13,000 overage machine tools since 1994. They are now being used in job shops across America.