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FOR RELEASE AT 8:30 AM EDT, FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 2017 

MONTHLY ADVANCE REPORT ON MANUFACTURERS’ SHIPMENTS, 

INVENTORIES AND ORDERS FEBRUARY 2017 

Release Number: CB 17-41 M3-1 (17)-02 

March 24, 2017 — The U.S. Census Bureau announces the February advance report on manufacturers’ 

shipments, inventories and orders: 

New Orders 

New orders for manufactured durable goods in February increased $3.9 billion or 1.7 percent to $235.4 

billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This increase, up two consecutive months, followed a 2.3 

percent January increase. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.4 percent. Excluding defense, 

new orders increased 2.1 percent. Transportation equipment, also up two consecutive months, led the 

increase, $3.3 billion or 4.3 percent to $80.4 billion. 

Shipments 

Shipments of manufactured durable goods in February, up three of the last four months, increased $0.6 

billion or 0.3 percent to $239.2 billion. This followed a 0.1 percent January decrease. Machinery, also up 

three of the last four months, led the increase, $0.3 billion or 0.9 percent to $31.1 billion. 

Unfilled Orders 

Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in February, down eight of the last nine months, decreased 

$0.2 billion or virtually unchanged to $1,114.7 billion. This followed a 0.3 percent January decrease. 

Transportation equipment, also down eight of the last nine months, drove the decrease, $1.1 billion or 0.1 

percent to $752.7 billion. 

DURABLE GOODS – NEW ORDERS

FEBRUARY 2017 $235.4 billion             +1.7%°   

JANUARY 2017  

(revised) $231.5 billion             +2.3%°

Next release: April 27, 2017

Data adjusted for seasonal variation but not for price changes. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders. 

°Statistical significance is not measurable for this survey. The Manufacturers' 

Shipments, Inventories, and Orders estimates are not based on a probability 

sample, so the sampling error of these estimates cannot be measured nor can the 

confidence intervals be computed.

Mar-16 Apr-16 May-16 Jun-16 Jul-16 Aug-16 Sep-16 Oct-16 Nov-16 Dec-16 Jan-17 Feb-17

% Change 2.0% 3.2% -2.9% -4.3% 3.6% 0.2% 0.3% 5.0% -4.7% -0.9% 2.3% 1.7%

-6.0%

-5.0%

-4.0%

-3.0%

-2.0%

-1.0%

0.0%

1.0%

2.0%

3.0%

4.0%

5.0%

6.0%

DURABLE GOODS NEW ORDERS 2016-2017

Seasonally Adjusted, Month-To-Month Percentage Change

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders
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Inventories 

Inventories of manufactured durable goods in February, up three of the last four months, increased $0.8 

billion or 0.2 percent to $385.1 billion. This followed a 0.1 percent January increase. Transportation 

equipment, up following two consecutive monthly decreases, led the increase, $0.2 billion or 0.1 percent to 

$122.9 billion. 

Capital Goods 

Nondefense new orders for capital goods in February increased $2.9 billion or 4.1 percent to $72.9 billion. 

Shipments decreased less than $0.1 billion or 0.1 percent to $72.1 billion. Unfilled orders increased $0.8 

billion or 0.1 percent to $690.1 billion. Inventories increased $0.4 billion or 0.2 percent to $171.0 billion. 

Defense new orders for capital goods in February decreased $0.8 billion or 8.3 percent to $9.2 billion. 

Shipments increased $0.5 billion or 5.1 percent to $11.4 billion. Unfilled orders decreased $2.2 billion or 

1.6 percent to $137.8 billion. Inventories increased $0.3 billion or 1.2 percent to $21.5 billion. 

Revised January Data

Revised seasonally adjusted January figures for all manufacturing industries were: new orders, $471.1 

billion (revised from $470.2 billion); shipments, $478.2 billion (revised from $478.3 billion); unfilled 

orders, $1,114.9 billion (revised from $1,114.1 billion) and total inventories, $628.3 billion (revised from 

$627.9 billion). 

Revised and more detailed estimates, plus nondurable goods data, will be published on April 4, 2017, at 

10:00 a.m. EDT. The Advance Report on durable goods for March is scheduled for release on April 27, 

2017 at 8:30 a.m. EDT. View the full schedule in the Economic Briefing 

Room:<www.census.gov/economic-indicators/>. The full text and tables of this release can be found at 

<www.census.gov/m3>. 

EXPLANATORY NOTES 

Figures in text are adjusted for seasonality, but not for inflation. Figures on new and unfilled orders exclude 

data for semiconductor manufacturing. 

“Virtually unchanged” indicates that the change is less than 0.05 percent for a percent increase or decrease. 

Description of the survey 

This report is compiled from results of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, 

and Orders (M3) survey, which is a voluntary survey authorized by Title 13 of the United States Code. This 

survey provides statistics on a calendar-month basis for manufacturers' value of shipments, new orders (net 

of cancellations), end-of-month order backlog (unfilled orders), end-of-month total inventory (at current 

cost or market value), and inventories by stage of fabrication (materials and supplies, work-in-process, and 

finished goods). Data published from the M3 survey are based on a panel of approximately 4,800 reporting 
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units that represent approximately 3,000 companies and provide an indication of month-to-month change for 

the Manufacturing Sector. These reporting units may be divisions of diversified large companies, large 

homogenous companies, or single-unit manufacturers in 92 industry categories, which are combined into 65 

publication levels due to the small monthly panel size. The survey methodology assumes that the month-tomonth changes of the total operations of the reporting units in the M3 panel effectively represent the monthto-month movements of all establishments that make up the category. The companies for which shipments 

data are currently reported or imputed in the M3 survey represent approximately 61 percent of the total 

value of shipments for manufacturing establishments in the 2012 Economic Census, and these companies 

include almost two-thirds of the manufacturing companies with $500 million or more in shipments in the 

2012 Economic Census. The companies for which shipments data are currently reported in the M3 survey 

represent approximately 54 percent of the total value of shipments for manufacturing establishments in the 

2012 Economic Census. Statistics based on the M3 panel differ from the results that would be obtained 

from a complete enumeration of all manufacturing companies. The M3 panel is not based on a probability 

sample; therefore, the sampling errors that are normally provided with sample surveys cannot be measured. 

Nonsampling errors are attributable to many sources. The use of company or divisional reports to estimate 

the monthly change for establishments is one source of nonsampling error. The use of primarily large 

companies to represent the month-to-month movement of all companies is another potential source. Any 

corrections will be published in the full report. Corrections received after the full report will be released in 

the next month’s advance report. Any revisions made later than two months will be reflected in the annual 

benchmark publication. Additional survey documentation can be found on our web site: 

<www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/how_the_data_are_collected/index.html>. 

Benchmark notice 

Revised historical data from the Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) Survey will be 

issued on May 18, 2017. These revisions result from: 

 benchmarking the M3 shipments and inventories data to the 2015 Annual Survey of 

Manufactures (ASM) and revised 2014 ASM data on a 2012 NAICS basis; 

 incorporating the unfilled orders to shipments ratios obtained from the 2015/2014 

Manufacturers’ Unfilled Orders (M3UFO) Survey by applying these ratios to the respective 

ASM shipments data, as well as incorporating revised unfilled orders to shipments ratios for 

prior years by applying them to the respective ASM data; 

 adjusting the new orders data to be consistent with the benchmarked shipments and unfilled 

orders data; 

 correcting monthly data for late receipts, reclassifications of reported data, and revisions to 

previously reported data; 
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 updating the seasonally adjusted data based on the results of benchmarking and the recent

annual review of the seasonal adjustment models.

These revisions will span the seasonally adjusted data for January 2002 through March 2017 and the data 

not seasonally adjusted for January 2007 through March 2017. An updated Press Release will contain 

revised monthly tables for January 2017 through March 2017. Please call M3 staff on (301) 763-4832 with 

any questions. 

America’s Economy Mobile App

The America’s Economy app provides real-time updates for 19 key economic indicators released from the 

Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Bureau of Economic Analysis. 

<www.census.gov/mobile/economy/> 

API 

The Census Bureau’s application programming interface (API) lets developers create custom apps to reach 

new users and makes key demographic, socio-economic and housing statistics more accessible than ever 

before.<www.census.gov/developers/> 

‐X‐ 
Table 1. Durable Goods Manufacturers' Shipments and New Orders 1

[Estimates are shown in millions of dollars and are based on data from the Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders Survey.]

Seasonally Adjusted Not Seasonally Adjusted 

Monthly Percent Change Monthly Year to Date

Item Percent

Feb Jan Dec Jan - Dec- Nov - Feb Jan Feb Change

2017 2 2017 r 2016 Feb 2 Jan r Dec 2017 2 2017 r 2016 2017 2016 2017/2016

DURABLE GOODS

 Total:

Shipments................................ 239,214 238,581 238,722 0.3 -0.1 1.7 222,575 212,196 225,222 434,771 429,746 1.2

 New Orders4

.............................. 235,386 231,525 226,239 1.7 2.3 -0.9 221,977 208,541 218,655 430,518 423,920 1.6

 Excluding transportation:

Shipments................................ 157,723 156,823 156,628 0.6 0.1 1.3 144,802 142,218 144,399 287,020 279,845 2.6

 New Orders4

.............................. 154,993 154,413 154,159 0.4 0.2 0.9 147,775 143,398 146,282 291,173 283,611 2.7

 Excluding defense:

Shipments................................ 225,722 225,685 225,622 0.0 0.0 1.8 209,915 201,969 213,281 411,884 408,251 0.9

 New Orders4

.............................. 223,622 218,968 214,486 2.1 2.1 1.2 211,648 197,736 209,472 409,384 404,730 1.1

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

Shipments................................ 170,931 169,689 169,540 0.7 0.1 1.6 159,013 150,056 157,534 309,069 301,079 2.7

New Orders.............................. 170,705 166,513 161,011 2.5 3.4 -1.9 161,219 151,356 153,625 312,575 301,684 3.6

 Primary metals:

Shipments................................ 18,804 18,647 18,518 0.8 0.7 1.6 18,056 18,198 17,621 36,254 34,623 4.7

New Orders.............................. 18,890 18,461 18,635 2.3 -0.9 -0.6 18,653 18,976 18,226 37,629 36,503 3.1

 Fabricated metal products:

Shipments................................ 31,595 31,360 30,975 0.7 1.2 0.4 29,450 29,034 28,664 58,484 55,824 4.8

New Orders.............................. 31,298 31,416 30,977 -0.4 1.4 -0.7 30,609 30,122 30,094 60,731 58,260 4.2

 Machinery:

Shipments................................ 31,106 30,833 31,166 0.9 -1.1 2.8 29,353 27,197 30,043 56,550 56,743 -0.3

New Orders.............................. 31,476 31,431 31,120 0.1 1.0 1.3 31,018 29,618 30,542 60,636 59,088 2.6

 Computers and electronic products4

:

Shipments................................ 28,072 28,077 28,027 0.0 0.2 0.9 24,232 25,148 23,734 49,380 46,831 5.4

New Orders.............................. 24,883 24,924 25,099 -0.2 -0.7 3.0 22,868 21,198 22,234 44,066 42,366 4.0

 Computers and related products:

Shipments................................ 1,820 1,816 1,700 0.2 6.8 -3.8 1,315 1,348 1,418 2,663 2,863 -7.0

New Orders.............................. 1,852 1,822 1,711 1.6 6.5 -3.9 1,347 1,354 1,418 2,701 2,831 -4.6

 Communications equipment:

Shipments................................ 3,436 3,467 3,565 -0.9 -2.7 2.1 2,843 2,727 2,941 5,570 5,496 1.3

New Orders.............................. 3,765 3,913 3,955 -3.8 -1.1 5.0 4,004 3,154 3,643 7,158 6,600 8.5

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components:

Shipments................................ 9,725 9,582 9,641 1.5 -0.6 1.4 8,896 8,509 8,933 17,405 17,406 0.0

New Orders.............................. 9,820 9,612 9,951 2.2 -3.4 0.4 9,288 9,074 9,381 18,362 18,506 -0.8

 Transportation equipment: 

Shipments................................ 81,491 81,758 82,094 -0.3 -0.4 2.3 77,773 69,978 80,823 147,751 149,901 -1.4

New Orders.............................. 80,393 77,112 72,080 4.3 7.0 -4.3 74,202 65,143 72,373 139,345 140,309 -0.7

 Motor vehicles and parts:

Shipments................................ 56,266 56,586 56,684 -0.6 -0.2 2.1 55,415 50,730 57,756 106,145 106,694 -0.5

New Orders.............................. 56,341 56,769 56,679 -0.8 0.2 1.9 55,838 51,090 57,833 106,928 106,404 0.5

 Nondefense aircraft and parts:

Shipments................................ 12,461 13,049 12,999 -4.5 0.4 5.9 10,483 9,840 11,323 20,323 21,925 -7.3

New Orders.............................. 12,681 8,589 4,686 47.6 83.3 9.1 8,509 4,149 6,064 12,658 16,223 -22.0

 Defense aircraft and parts:

Shipments................................ 4,360 3,967 4,178 9.9 -5.1 0.1 3,767 2,867 3,789 6,634 7,162 -7.4

New Orders.............................. 3,839 4,401 2,653 -12.8 65.9 -65.1 3,019 4,002 2,959 7,021 7,169 -2.1

 All other durable goods: 

Shipments................................ 38,421 38,324 38,301 0.3 0.1 1.0 34,815 34,132 35,404 68,947 68,418 0.8

New Orders.............................. 38,626 38,569 38,377 0.1 0.5 1.3 35,339 34,410 35,805 69,749 68,888 1.2

 Capital goods3

:

Shipments................................ 83,456 82,952 83,127 0.6 -0.2 2.0 76,145 70,250 76,672 146,395 145,887 0.3

New Orders.............................. 82,062 80,012 76,091 2.6 5.2 -3.2 75,482 68,980 71,540 144,462 143,160 0.9

 Nondefense capital goods:

Shipments................................ 72,050 72,095 72,210 -0.1 -0.2 2.4 65,265 61,572 66,823 126,837 128,338 -1.2

New Orders.............................. 72,890 70,012 66,512 4.1 5.3 3.5 67,241 60,126 64,159 127,367 127,256 0.1

 Excluding aircraft:

Shipments........................... 64,288 63,652 63,868 1.0 -0.3 1.7 59,132 56,152 60,112 115,284 115,689 -0.4

New Orders.......................... 64,641 64,734 64,676 -0.1 0.1 0.8 62,712 59,706 62,578 122,418 120,825 1.3

 Defense capital goods:

Shipments................................ 11,406 10,857 10,917 5.1 -0.5 -0.9 10,880 8,678 9,849 19,558 17,549 11.4

New Orders.............................. 9,172 10,000 9,579 -8.3 4.4 -33.0 8,241 8,854 7,381 17,095 15,904 7.5

r Revised data due to late receipts and concurrent seasonal adjustment. 

1 Estimates of shipments and new orders are for the duration of the period, while estimates of unfilled orders and total inventories are for the end of the period. Not seasonally adjusted estimates of 

shipments and new orders include adjusted data for non-calendar reporters. Seasonally adjusted estimates include concurrent adjustments for holiday and trading-day differences, where appropriate, 

as well as seasonal variation, based on the results of the latest annual review of the model parameters. Estimates are not adjusted for price changes. 

2 Based on advance sample. Estimates of manufacturers' shipments, inventories, and orders are subject to survey error and revision. One major component of survey error is nonsampling error, which includes errors of 

coverage, response and nonreporting. Since the survey panel is not a probability sample, estimates of sampling error cannot be calculated. For further details on survey design, methodology, and data limitations, see 

http://www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3. 

3

 The Capital Goods Industries include Nondefense : small arms and ordnance; farm machinery and equipment; construction machinery; mining, oil, and gas field machinery; industrial machinery; vending, laundry, and other 

machinery; photographic equipment; metalworking machinery; turbines and generators; other power transmission equipment; pumps and compressors; material handling equipment; all other machinery; electronic computers; 

computer storage devices; other computer peripheral equipment; communications equipment; search and navigation equipment; electromedical, measuring, and control instruments; electrical equipment; other electrical 

equipment, appliances, and components; heavy duty trucks; aircraft; railroad rolling stock; ships and boats; office and institutional furniture; and medical equipment and supplies. Defense Capital Goods include : small arms and 

ordnance, communications equipment, aircraft; missiles, space vehicles, and parts, ships and boats, and search and navigation equipment. 4

 Estimates and percent changes of shipments and inventories for the semiconductor industry are included in computers and electronic products, and all other applicable aggregate totals. Estimates and percent changes for new 

orders and unfilled orders exclude semiconductor industry data. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) Survey, February Advance Report, March 24, 2017. Information on data sources and methodology can be found on our website at 

<www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/how_the_data_are_collected/index.html>. 
Table 2. Durable Goods Manufacturers' Unfilled Orders and Total Inventories 1

[Estimates are shown in millions of dollars and are based on data from the Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders Survey.]

Seasonally Adjusted Not Seasonally Adjusted 

Monthly Percent Change Monthly Percent

Item Change

Feb Jan Dec Jan - Dec - Nov - Feb Jan Feb 2017/

2017 2 2017 r 2016 Feb 2 Jan r Dec 2017 2 2017 r 2016 2016

DURABLE GOODS

 Total:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 1,114,713 1,114,939 1,118,115 0.0 -0.3 -0.8 1,123,572 1,121,366 1,140,305 -1.5

Total Inventories....................... 385,149 384,303 383,830 0.2 0.1 -0.1 388,205 383,784 388,447 -0.1

 Excluding transportation:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 361,982 361,110 359,640 0.2 0.4 0.4 364,015 358,238 355,039 2.5

Total Inventories....................... 262,297 261,614 260,543 0.3 0.4 0.1 264,390 261,422 262,100 0.9

 Excluding defense:

 Unfilled Orders4

........................... 940,729 939,227 942,064 0.2 -0.3 -0.8 948,980 944,443 969,393 -2.1

Total Inventories....................... 359,331 358,774 358,522 0.2 0.1 0.0 362,491 358,501 362,719 -0.1

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

Unfilled Orders......................... 1,114,713 1,114,939 1,118,115 0.0 -0.3 -0.8 1,123,572 1,121,366 1,140,305 -1.5

Total Inventories....................... 312,573 311,710 311,320 0.3 0.1 -0.2 314,219 310,533 314,892 -0.2

 Primary metals:

Unfilled Orders......................... 33,681 33,595 33,781 0.3 -0.6 0.3 34,590 33,993 32,493 6.5

Total Inventories....................... 31,936 31,783 31,660 0.5 0.4 0.0 32,268 32,177 32,330 -0.2

 Fabricated metal products:

Unfilled Orders......................... 74,807 75,104 75,048 -0.4 0.1 0.0 74,613 73,454 73,883 1.0

Total Inventories....................... 48,934 48,795 48,685 0.3 0.2 0.0 49,196 48,791 48,979 0.4

 Machinery: 

Unfilled Orders......................... 93,707 93,337 92,739 0.4 0.6 0.0 94,923 93,258 97,301 -2.4

Total Inventories....................... 66,336 66,206 66,299 0.2 -0.1 0.5 66,913 65,889 67,121 -0.3

 Computers and electronic products4

:

Unfilled Orders......................... 132,103 131,690 130,963 0.3 0.6 0.8 132,290 130,850 126,157 4.9

Total Inventories....................... 43,059 42,915 42,510 0.3 1.0 -0.1 43,324 42,497 42,819 1.2

 Computers and related products:

Unfilled Orders......................... 2,485 2,453 2,447 1.3 0.2 0.5 2,485 2,453 2,415 2.9

Total Inventories....................... 3,918 3,895 3,945 0.6 -1.3 8.1 3,976 3,829 3,666 8.5

 Communications equipment:

Unfilled Orders......................... 36,634 36,305 35,859 0.9 1.2 1.1 36,969 35,808 33,866 9.2

Total Inventories....................... 4,506 4,399 4,287 2.4 2.6 -3.9 4,571 4,381 4,738 -3.5

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components:

Unfilled Orders......................... 18,709 18,614 18,584 0.5 0.2 1.7 19,052 18,660 17,403 9.5

Total Inventories....................... 16,485 16,406 16,258 0.5 0.9 0.3 16,573 16,306 16,316 1.6

 Transportation equipment: 

Unfilled Orders......................... 752,731 753,829 758,475 -0.1 -0.6 -1.3 759,557 763,128 785,266 -3.3

Total Inventories....................... 122,852 122,689 123,287 0.1 -0.5 -0.6 123,815 122,362 126,347 -2.0

 Motor vehicles and parts:

Unfilled Orders......................... 21,839 21,764 21,581 0.3 0.8 0.0 22,714 22,291 23,269 -2.4

Total Inventories....................... 33,634 33,906 34,561 -0.8 -1.9 -0.8 34,113 34,311 35,276 -3.3

 Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

Unfilled Orders......................... 571,761 571,541 576,001 0.0 -0.8 -1.4 576,820 578,794 604,934 -4.6

Total Inventories....................... 62,192 62,149 62,430 0.1 -0.5 -0.6 62,819 61,721 64,519 -2.6

 Defense Aircraft and parts: 

Unfilled Orders......................... 71,886 72,407 71,973 -0.7 0.6 -2.1 72,912 73,660 68,625 6.2

Total Inventories....................... 11,402 11,313 11,007 0.8 2.8 -1.2 11,440 11,265 11,838 -3.4

 All other durable goods: 

Unfilled Orders......................... 8,975 8,770 8,525 2.3 2.9 0.9 8,547 8,023 7,802 9.5

Total Inventories....................... 55,547 55,509 55,131 0.1 0.7 0.1 56,116 55,762 54,535 2.9

 Capital goods3

:

Unfilled Orders......................... 827,906 829,300 832,240 -0.2 -0.4 -0.8 833,240 833,903 848,149 -1.8

Total Inventories....................... 192,443 191,765 191,477 0.4 0.2 0.1 193,231 190,040 193,554 -0.2

 Nondefense capital goods:

Unfilled Orders......................... 690,140 689,300 691,383 0.1 -0.3 -0.8 695,286 693,310 713,390 -2.5

Total Inventories....................... 170,965 170,550 170,728 0.2 -0.1 0.2 171,895 169,023 172,794 -0.5

Excluding aircraft:

Unfilled Orders.................... 226,726 226,373 225,291 0.2 0.5 0.4 227,999 224,419 222,822 2.3

Total Inventories................... 120,036 119,674 119,358 0.3 0.3 0.5 120,495 118,590 119,502 0.8

 Defense capital goods:

Unfilled Orders......................... 137,766 140,000 140,857 -1.6 -0.6 -0.9 137,954 140,593 134,759 2.4

Total Inventories....................... 21,478 21,215 20,749 1.2 2.2 -0.6 21,336 21,017 20,760 2.8

r Revised data due to late receipts and concurrent seasonal adjustment. 

1 Estimates of shipments and new orders are for the duration of the period, while estimates of unfilled orders and total inventories are for the end of the period. Not seasonally adjusted estimates of 

shipments and new orders include adjusted data for non-calendar reporters. Seasonally adjusted estimates include concurrent adjustments for holiday and trading-day differences, where 

appropriate, as well as seasonal variation, based on the results of the latest annual review of the model parameters. Estimates are not adjusted for price changes. 2

 Based on advance sample. Estimates of manufacturers' shipments, inventories, and orders are subject to survey error and revision. One major component of survey error is nonsampling error, 

which includes errors of coverage, response and nonreporting. Since the survey panel is not a probability sample, estimates of sampling error cannot be calculated. For further details on survey 

design, methodology, and data limitations, see http://www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3. 3

 The Capital Goods Industries include Nondefense : small arms and ordnance; farm machinery and equipment; construction machinery; mining, oil, and gas field machinery; industrial machinery; 

vending, laundry, and other machinery; photographic equipment; metalworking machinery; turbines and generators; other power transmission equipment; pumps and compressors; material 

handling equipment; all other machinery; electronic computers; computer storage devices; other computer peripheral equipment; communications equipment; search and navigation equipment; 

electromedical, measuring, and control instruments; electrical equipment; other electrical equipment, appliances, and components; heavy duty trucks; aircraft; railroad rolling stock; ships and 

boats; office and institutional furniture; and medical equipment and supplies. Defense Capital Goods include : small arms and ordnance, communications equipment, aircraft; missiles, space 

vehicles, and parts, ships and boats, and search and navigation equipment. 

4

 Estimates and percent changes of shipments and inventories for the semiconductor industry are included in computers and electronic products, and all other applicable aggregate totals. 

Estimates and percent changes for new orders and unfilled orders exclude semiconductor industry data. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) Survey, February Advance Report, March 24, 2017. Information on data sources and methodology can be found 

on our website at <www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/how_the_data_are_collected/index.html>.