At $173.6 million, second-quarter shipments of industrial laser equipment and systems for North America and US exports were up about 75 percent compared with corresponding 2003 figures, according to Laser Systems Product Group of the Association for Manufacturing Technology, based in McLean, Va. The report, which is based on statistics from 41 companies, indicates that shipments within North America totaled $119.8 million and that exports amounted to $53.8 million.

The compilation shows that shipments of CO₂ lasers were up nearly 50 percent and Nd:YAG lasers, more than 130 percent. It documented that roughly half of the laser activity involved cutting applications, that nearly a quarter of the devices shipped were of the CO₂ type, and that all but 10 percent of the total dispatches were designated as laser systems.