U.S. manufacturing technology order values year-to-date – the amount of equipment and tech manufacturers are buying for their operations – are up by 4.8 percent compared with 2011, according to the latest report from the Association for Manufacturing Technology.

AMT, a Virginia-based trade group, this week released their tech order numbers for November, including year-to-date orders worth $5.2 billion, or $250 million more than a year ago. Year-to-date orders of metal-forming and fabricating equipment were worth about $616 million, or a 19.5 percent gain from a year ago.

November's orders were worth about $422 million, or 8.5 percent less than the same month a year ago, according to AMT. On the month, metal forming and fabricating equipment orders were worth $73 million, or 26 percent more than a year ago.

In the Northeast region, including Pennsylvania, November tech orders were worth $66 million, a 21 percent drop from a year ago, according to AMT. Year-to-date orders were worth $713 million, or 6.4 percent less than in 2011.

However, November orders of metal forming and fabricating equipment – $11.9 million worth – in the Northeast were up 42 percent from last year, AMT said. Similarly, such equipment orders increased 5.3 percent year-to-date for a total of $63.5 million.