FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2015, AT 8:30 A.M. EST 

Adriana Stoica 

Economic Indicators Division 

(301) 763-4832 

M3-1 (14)-12 

CB15-10

Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders 

December 2014 

New Orders 

 New orders for manufactured durable goods in 

December decreased $8.1 billion or 3.4 percent to 

$230.5 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced 

today. This decrease, down four of the last five months, 

followed a 2.1 percent November decrease. Excluding 

transportation, new orders decreased 0.8 percent. 

Excluding defense, new orders decreased 3.2 percent. 

 

 Transportation equipment, also down four of the last 

five months, led the decrease, $6.8 billion or 9.2 percent 

to $66.7 billion. 

Shipments 

 Shipments of manufactured durable goods in 

December, up following two consecutive monthly 

decreases, increased $2.6 billion or 1.1 percent to $246.8 

billion. This followed a 0.7 percent November decrease. 

 Transportation equipment, up three of the last four 

months, led the increase, $2.2 billion or 3.1 percent to 

$74.5 billion. 

 

Unfilled Orders 

 Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in 

December, down following ten consecutive monthly 

increases, decreased $8.9 billion or 0.8 percent to 

$1,167.6 billion. This followed a 0.2 percent November 

increase. 

 Transportation equipment, also down following ten 

consecutive monthly increases, led the decrease, $7.8 

billion or 1.0 percent to $740.0 billion.

Inventories 

 

 Inventories of manufactured durable goods in 

December, up twenty of the last twenty-one months, 

increased $2.0 billion or 0.5 percent to $410.8 billion. 

This was at the highest level since the series was first 

published on a NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 0.5 

percent November increase. 

 Transportation equipment, also up twenty of the last 

twenty-one months, led the increase, $0.6 billion or 0.5 

percent to $134.1 billion. 

Capital Goods 

 Nondefense new orders for capital goods in December 

decreased $7.9 billion or 9.7 percent to $73.3 billion. 

Shipments increased $0.1 billion or 0.2 percent to $78.9 

billion. Unfilled orders decreased $5.7 billion or 0.8 

percent to $732.4 billion. Inventories increased $1.0 

billion or 0.5 percent to $187.5 billion. 

 Defense new orders for capital goods in December 

decreased $0.5 billion or 5.3 percent to $8.7 billion. 

Shipments increased $0.2 billion or 2.2 percent to $10.2 

billion. Unfilled orders decreased $1.5 billion or 0.9 

percent to $156.2 billion. Inventories decreased $0.1 

billion or 0.3 percent to $24.1 billion. 

Revised November Data 

 Revised seasonally adjusted November figures for all 

manufacturing industries were: new orders, $489.3 

billion (revised from $492.7 billion); shipments, $494.9 

billion (revised from $495.7 billion); unfilled orders, 

$1,176.5 billion (revised from $1,179.1 billion); and 

total inventories, $657.2 billion (revised from $656.3 

billion). 

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

manufacturing. For data, call (301) 763-4673 or go to <http://www.census.gov/m3>. Revised and more detailed estimates, plus 

nondurable goods data, will be published on February 3, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. EST. The Advance Report on durable goods for January is 

scheduled for release on February 26, 2015 at 8:30 a.m. EST. See back page for survey description. To receive the latest updates on the 

Nation's key economic indicators, download the America's Economy app for Apple and Android smartphones and tablets. The U.S. 

Census Bureau updated its Application Programming Interface (API) with monthly and quarterly economic indicators. The API allows developers to combine Census Bureau statistics with other data sets to create tools for research on a variety of topics. 
 2

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

Dec Nov Oct Nov - Oct - Sep - Dec Nov Dec Change

2014 2 2014 r 2014 Dec 2 Nov r Oct 2014 2 2014 r 2013 2014 2013 2014/2013

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Shipments................................ 246,771 244,191 246,032 1.1 -0.7 -0.1 246,290 229,648 229,442 2,902,036 2,763,242 5.0

 New Orders4

.............................. 230,525 238,661 243,821 -3.4 -2.1 0.3 246,475 224,648 244,249 2,919,275 2,749,196 6.2

 Excluding transportation:

 Shipments................................ 172,229 171,871 172,957 0.2 -0.6 -0.5 169,716 160,822 161,270 2,043,133 1,940,512 5.3

 New Orders4

.............................. 163,779 165,121 167,260 -0.8 -1.3 -1.2 161,593 151,997 154,648 1,977,864 1,879,554 5.2

 Excluding defense:

 Shipments................................ 234,427 232,132 234,016 1.0 -0.8 -0.3 232,609 217,023 216,488 2,759,675 2,617,078 5.4

 New Orders4

.............................. 219,750 227,089 230,377 -3.2 -1.4 -0.7 231,029 214,837 229,966 2,780,740 2,622,482 6.0

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Shipments................................ 173,958 172,742 174,054 0.7 -0.8 -0.1 176,743 162,817 163,341 2,042,652 1,934,970 5.6

 New Orders.............................. 165,062 174,621 179,389 -5.5 -2.7 0.5 183,352 165,040 184,474 2,151,055 2,004,384 7.3

 Primary metals:

 Shipments................................ 27,655 27,406 27,816 0.9 -1.5 -0.2 25,119 24,962 23,411 324,571 304,234 6.7

 New Orders.............................. 26,722 27,141 28,099 -1.5 -3.4 -2.0 24,972 25,262 23,917 327,438 308,160 6.3

 Fabricated metal products:

 Shipments................................ 30,708 30,367 30,388 1.1 -0.1 -0.4 28,444 28,293 26,333 359,718 346,794 3.7

 New Orders.............................. 30,910 30,600 30,957 1.0 -1.2 0.1 28,287 27,377 24,942 361,060 351,639 2.7

 Machinery:

 Shipments................................ 35,926 36,491 36,829 -1.5 -0.9 -0.9 37,033 33,497 36,195 434,383 411,633 5.5

 New Orders.............................. 34,645 35,988 36,304 -3.7 -0.9 -2.1 34,924 32,536 36,514 442,375 417,590 5.9

 Computers and electronic products4

:

 Shipments................................ 28,741 28,742 28,844 0.0 -0.4 -0.3 31,935 27,781 31,495 347,267 333,026 4.3

 New Orders.............................. 22,024 22,311 22,429 -1.3 -0.5 0.0 26,444 20,543 25,387 265,963 255,875 3.9

 Computers and related products:

 Shipments................................ 1,864 1,933 1,961 -3.6 -1.4 -0.7 3,031 1,626 3,879 25,718 28,044 -8.3

 New Orders.............................. 1,814 2,025 2,045 -10.4 -1.0 -3.3 2,981 1,718 3,893 26,507 28,206 -6.0

 Communications equipment:

 Shipments................................ 3,717 3,431 3,636 8.3 -5.6 -3.9 4,576 3,168 4,555 45,080 47,165 -4.4

 New Orders.............................. 4,108 4,173 3,802 -1.6 9.8 8.5 5,149 3,551 5,340 48,824 52,262 -6.6

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Shipments................................ 10,659 10,658 10,515 0.0 1.4 -1.3 10,423 10,273 9,819 125,217 123,069 1.7

 New Orders.............................. 10,874 10,740 10,800 1.2 -0.6 -4.3 10,618 10,063 10,211 128,324 124,385 3.2

 Transportation equipment: 

 Shipments................................ 74,542 72,320 73,075 3.1 -1.0 0.7 76,574 68,826 68,172 858,903 822,730 4.4

 New Orders.............................. 66,746 73,540 76,561 -9.2 -3.9 3.5 84,882 72,651 89,601 941,411 869,642 8.3

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Shipments................................ 49,247 47,781 47,704 3.1 0.2 0.7 45,308 44,694 39,888 564,664 541,537 4.3

 New Orders.............................. 49,316 48,028 47,816 2.7 0.4 0.7 45,934 45,210 40,393 566,130 541,268 4.6

 Nondefense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 12,846 12,528 13,127 2.5 -4.6 -2.1 17,752 12,061 15,789 151,006 136,356 10.7

 New Orders.............................. 6,096 13,701 15,399 -55.5 -11.0 0.8 23,641 17,181 34,466 233,118 200,708 16.1

 Defense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 4,757 4,505 4,595 5.6 -2.0 1.5 5,541 4,760 4,794 54,723 56,650 -3.4

 New Orders.............................. 3,746 4,678 5,312 -19.9 -11.9 44.1 6,167 4,480 6,388 53,023 48,802 8.6

 All other durable goods: 

 Shipments................................ 38,540 38,207 38,565 0.9 -0.9 -0.3 36,762 36,016 34,017 451,977 421,756 7.2

 New Orders.............................. 38,604 38,341 38,671 0.7 -0.9 -0.4 36,348 36,216 33,677 452,704 421,905 7.3

 Capital goods3

:

 Shipments................................ 89,104 88,747 89,628 0.4 -1.0 -1.0 99,823 83,846 94,944 1,053,002 1,004,637 4.8

 New Orders.............................. 81,967 90,341 92,782 -9.3 -2.6 1.0 106,285 86,082 113,259 1,140,301 1,067,868 6.8

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 78,938 78,800 79,827 0.2 -1.3 -1.3 88,763 73,461 84,298 936,780 885,831 5.8

 New Orders.............................. 73,256 81,147 82,432 -9.7 -1.6 0.0 94,227 78,614 102,302 1,029,566 966,431 6.5

 Excluding aircraft:

 Shipments........................... 69,741 69,885 70,289 -0.2 -0.6 -0.9 75,122 65,063 71,995 829,831 790,320 5.0

 New Orders.......................... 70,196 70,606 70,997 -0.6 -0.6 -1.8 74,345 64,243 72,305 850,446 811,126 4.8

 Defense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 10,166 9,947 9,801 2.2 1.5 1.5 11,060 10,385 10,646 116,222 118,806 -2.2

 New Orders.............................. 8,711 9,194 10,350 -5.3 -11.2 10.0 12,058 7,468 10,957 110,735 101,437 9.2

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 of shipments for the semiconductor industry are no longer shown separately. 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. 
 3

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

Dec Nov Oct Nov - Oct - Sep - Dec Nov Dec 2014/

2014 2 2014 r 2014 Dec 2 Nov r Oct 2014 2 2014 r 2013 2013

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 1,167,591 1,176,487 1,174,608 -0.8 0.2 0.5 1,168,681 1,162,072 1,060,278 10.2

 Total Inventories....................... 410,823 408,811 406,602 0.5 0.5 0.5 399,798 409,670 377,594 5.9

 Excluding transportation:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 427,559 428,659 428,000 -0.3 0.2 0.4 419,732 421,431 393,837 6.6

 Total Inventories....................... 276,769 275,359 274,617 0.5 0.3 0.2 270,138 275,908 259,400 4.1

 Excluding defense:

 Unfilled Orders4

........................... 979,822 987,149 984,783 -0.7 0.2 0.4 981,603 976,759 869,374 12.9

 Total Inventories....................... 381,342 379,265 377,311 0.5 0.5 0.4 370,560 380,115 349,531 6.0

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 1,167,591 1,176,487 1,174,608 -0.8 0.2 0.5 1,168,681 1,162,072 1,060,278 10.2

 Total Inventories....................... 337,790 336,335 334,294 0.4 0.6 0.5 328,153 336,722 308,791 6.3

 Primary metals:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 39,403 40,336 40,601 -2.3 -0.7 0.7 38,920 39,067 36,053 8.0

 Total Inventories....................... 38,354 38,068 37,721 0.8 0.9 0.6 38,031 37,769 34,977 8.7

 Fabricated metal products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 88,158 87,956 87,723 0.2 0.3 0.7 85,139 85,296 83,797 1.6

 Total Inventories....................... 50,630 50,429 50,121 0.4 0.6 0.4 49,738 50,002 47,394 4.9

 Machinery: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 118,186 119,467 119,970 -1.1 -0.4 -0.4 115,739 117,848 107,747 7.4

 Total Inventories....................... 67,802 67,614 67,924 0.3 -0.5 0.2 65,182 68,349 63,824 2.1

 Computers and electronic products4

:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 147,600 146,967 145,989 0.4 0.7 0.8 146,831 145,898 136,971 7.2

 Total Inventories....................... 49,148 48,876 49,037 0.6 -0.3 0.4 47,955 49,625 46,463 3.2

 Computers and related products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 4,178 4,228 4,136 -1.2 2.2 2.1 4,178 4,228 3,389 23.3

 Total Inventories....................... 4,810 4,631 4,669 3.9 -0.8 -0.9 4,500 4,850 4,364 3.1

 Communications equipment:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 39,543 39,152 38,410 1.0 1.9 0.4 39,271 38,698 35,527 10.5

 Total Inventories....................... 7,180 7,346 7,494 -2.3 -2.0 -0.5 7,011 7,560 7,681 -8.7

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 26,026 25,811 25,729 0.8 0.3 1.1 25,397 25,202 22,290 13.9

 Total Inventories....................... 16,784 16,636 16,399 0.9 1.4 -1.0 16,151 16,558 16,078 0.5

 Transportation equipment: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 740,032 747,828 746,608 -1.0 0.2 0.5 748,949 740,641 666,441 12.4

 Total Inventories....................... 134,054 133,452 131,985 0.5 1.1 0.9 129,660 133,762 118,194 9.7

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 17,760 17,691 17,444 0.4 1.4 0.6 17,982 17,356 16,516 8.9

 Total Inventories....................... 27,670 27,490 27,360 0.7 0.5 0.5 26,795 27,773 24,481 9.5

 Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 568,883 575,633 574,460 -1.2 0.2 0.4 577,820 571,931 495,708 16.6

 Total Inventories....................... 76,164 75,574 74,616 0.8 1.3 1.1 73,054 75,521 65,567 11.4

 Defense Aircraft and parts: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 62,394 63,405 63,232 -1.6 0.3 1.1 62,811 62,185 64,511 -2.6

 Total Inventories....................... 14,125 14,399 14,522 -1.9 -0.8 1.4 13,917 14,369 13,117 6.1

 All other durable goods: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 8,186 8,122 7,988 0.8 1.7 1.3 7,706 8,120 6,979 10.4

 Total Inventories....................... 54,051 53,736 53,415 0.6 0.6 0.2 53,081 53,605 50,664 4.8

 Capital goods3

:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 888,576 895,713 894,119 -0.8 0.2 0.4 891,744 885,282 804,445 10.9

 Total Inventories....................... 211,612 210,715 209,567 0.4 0.5 0.5 204,214 212,460 192,996 5.8

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 732,355 738,037 735,690 -0.8 0.3 0.4 736,657 731,193 643,871 14.4

 Total Inventories....................... 187,531 186,569 185,648 0.5 0.5 0.4 180,168 188,275 170,009 6.0

 Excluding aircraft: 

 Unfilled Orders.................... 254,161 253,706 252,985 0.2 0.3 0.3 249,260 250,037 228,645 9.0

 Total Inventories................... 123,288 122,864 122,959 0.3 -0.1 -0.1 119,036 124,631 116,423 2.2

 Defense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 156,221 157,676 158,429 -0.9 -0.5 0.3 155,087 154,089 160,574 -3.4

 Total Inventories....................... 24,081 24,146 23,919 -0.3 0.9 1.3 24,046 24,185 22,987 4.6

See footnotes at end of Table 1 
4

Survey Description 

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-inprocess, and finished goods). Data published from the M3 survey are based on a panel of approximately 

4,800 reporting units that represent approximately 3,000 companies and provide an indication of month-tomonth change for the Manufacturing Sector. These reporting units may be divisions of diversified large 

companies, large homogenous companies, or single-unit manufacturers in 89 industry categories, which are 

combined into 65 publication levels due to the small monthly panel size. The survey methodology 

assumes that the month-to-month changes of the total operations of the reporting units in the M3 panel

effectively represent the month-to-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: http://www.census.gov/m3.

Benchmark notice

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

be issued on May 14, 2015. These revisions result from benchmarking the shipments and inventories 

data to the 2012 Economic Census and the 2013 Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM) data on a 

2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) basis, as well as revised ASM 

benchmarks for prior years on a 2007 NAICS basis; incorporating the unfilled orders to shipments 

ratios obtained from the 2013/2012 and 2012/2011 Manufacturers’ Unfilled Orders Surveys by 

applying these ratios to the respective Census or ASM shipments data, as well as incorporating revised 

unfilled orders to shipments ratios for prior years; 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; and 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 1997 

through March 2015 and the data not seasonally adjusted for January 2001 through March 2015. An 

updated Press Release will contain revised monthly tables for January 2015 through March 2015 on a 

2012 NAICS basis, which will be the new basis for publishing data from the M3 Survey starting with 

the April 2015 Advance Report on Durable Goods. Please call M3 staff on (301) 763-4832 with any 

questions.