FOR IMMEDIATE RELEAS E 

MONDAY, JULY 27, 2015, AT 8:30 A.M. EDT

Adriana Stoica

Economic Indicators Division

(301) 763-4832

M3-1 (15)-06

CB 15-125

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

June 2015

New Orders 

 New orders for manufactured durable goods in June

increased $7.7 billion or 3.4 percent to $235.3 billion, 

the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This increase, up following two consecutive monthly decreases,

followed a 2.1 percent May decrease. Excluding 

transportation, new ordersincreased 0.8 percent. 

Excluding defense, new orders increased 3.8 percent.

 

 Transportation equipment, also up following two 

consecutive monthly decreases, led the increase, $6.4

billion or 8.9 percent to $78.4 billion.

Shipments

 Shipments of manufactured durable goods in June, up 

following two consecutive monthly decreases, increased

$0.3 billion or 0.1 percent to $239.4 billion. This

followed a 0.3 percent May decrease. 

 Transportation equipment, also up following two 

consecutive monthly decreases, drove the increase, $0.4

billion or 0.5 percent to $77.5 billion. 

Unfilled Orders 

 Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in 

June, up following two consecutive monthly decreases, 

increased $1.0 billion or 0.1 percent to $1,195.8 billion. 

This followed a 0.5 percent May decrease. 

 Transportation equipment, also up following two 

consecutive monthly decreases, led the increase, $0.8

billion or 0.1 percent to $799.5 billion.

Inventories

 Inventories of manufactured durable goods in June, up

twenty-four of the last twenty-five months, increased

$1.6 billion or 0.4 percent to $402.3 billion. This was at 

the highest level since the series was first published on a 

NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 0.2 percent May

decrease.

 Transportation equipment, up two of the last three 

months, led the increase, $0.7 billion or 0.5 percent to 

$130.8 billion. 

Capital Goods

 Nondefense new orders for capital goods in June

increased $6.9 billion or 9.4 percent to $80.8 billion. 

Shipments decreased $0.1 billion or 0.2 percent to $78.6

billion. Unfilled orders increased $2.2 billion or 0.3

percent to $759.2 billion. Inventories increased $1.0

billion or 0.6 percent to $177.5 billion.

 Defense new orders for capital goods in June

decreased $0.2 billion or 2.5 percent to $8.8 billion. 

Shipments increased $0.4 billion or 3.8 percent to $9.9

billion. Unfilled orders decreased $1.1 billion or 0.7

percent to $149.6 billion. Inventories increased $0.1 

billion or 0.3 percent to $21.9 billion.

Revised May Data

 Revised seasonally adjusted May figures for all 

manufacturing industries were: new orders, $470.1

billion (revised from $470.5 billion); shipments, $481.5

billion (revised from $482.1 billion); unfilled orders, 

$1,194.8 billion (revised from $1,194.6 billion); and 

total inventories, $649.7 billion (virtually unchanged).

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 August 4, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. EDT. The Advance Report on durable goods for July is

scheduled for release on August26, 2015 at 8:30 a.m. EDT. 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. To learn more 

about this release and the other indicators the U.S. Census Bureau publishes, join us for the Investigating Economic Indicators Webinar 

Series. For more information, visit www.census.gov/econ/webinar.

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

Jun May Apr May - Apr - Mar - Jun May Jun Change

2015 2 2015 r 2015 Jun 2 May r Apr 2015 2 2015 r 2014 2015 2014 2015/2014

DURABLE GOODS

 Total:

 Shipments................................ 239,398 239,049 239,866 0.1 -0.3 -0.3 260,712 238,327 252,586 1,430,955 1,391,517 2.8

 New Orders4.............................. 235,337 227,677 232,569 3.4 -2.1 -1.7 259,014 220,776 260,584 1,385,034 1,413,801 -2.0

 Excluding transportation:

 Shipments................................ 161,870 161,918 162,351 0.0 -0.3 -0.3 175,078 161,325 174,881 969,057 964,784 0.4

 New Orders4.............................. 156,973 155,733 155,946 0.8 -0.1 -0.6 169,126 155,055 174,236 946,216 963,999 -1.8

 Excluding defense:

 Shipments................................ 227,057 227,205 228,177 -0.1 -0.4 -0.2 247,164 226,684 239,799 1,361,110 1,321,555 3.0

 New Orders4.............................. 224,787 216,662 222,017 3.8 -2.4 -1.0 244,312 211,837 242,380 1,321,159 1,333,083 -0.9

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Shipments................................ 171,418 171,150 172,123 0.2 -0.6 -0.1 187,594 170,918 182,496 1,026,538 992,865 3.4

 New Orders.............................. 172,396 164,990 169,616 4.5 -2.7 -2.1 190,005 157,474 194,997 1,008,646 1,046,616 -3.6

 Primary metals:

 Shipments................................ 21,233 21,353 21,500 -0.6 -0.7 -2.4 22,091 21,475 24,091 132,387 138,762 -4.6

 New Orders.............................. 21,240 21,541 21,514 -1.4 0.1 0.6 21,914 21,203 24,681 132,313 141,595 -6.6

 Fabricated metal products:

 Shipments................................ 29,853 29,885 30,057 -0.1 -0.6 -0.2 31,791 30,137 31,755 179,539 177,244 1.3

 New Orders.............................. 30,307 29,701 29,550 2.0 0.5 0.7 31,604 30,264 31,467 181,214 182,963 -1.0

 Machinery:

 Shipments................................ 33,362 33,416 33,217 -0.2 0.6 0.2 36,194 33,920 35,762 200,498 203,126 -1.3

 New Orders.............................. 32,395 31,951 31,780 1.4 0.5 0.2 34,383 31,910 37,988 196,375 216,082 -9.1

 Computers and electronic products4:

 Shipments................................ 29,439 29,314 28,993 0.4 1.1 0.4 33,026 27,275 31,658 169,236 165,139 2.5

 New Orders.............................. 24,921 24,871 24,685 0.2 0.8 -3.3 28,955 23,370 27,739 146,954 139,247 5.5

 Computers and related products:

 Shipments................................ 2,148 2,094 2,120 2.6 -1.2 -6.3 3,227 1,812 3,586 12,569 13,797 -8.9

 New Orders.............................. 2,203 2,020 2,207 9.1 -8.5 -3.8 3,282 1,738 3,700 12,717 13,993 -9.1

 

 Communications equipment:

 Shipments................................ 3,629 3,615 3,784 0.4 -4.5 -0.1 4,431 3,461 4,329 21,752 21,443 1.4

 New Orders.............................. 3,822 3,851 3,775 -0.8 2.0 -8.5 4,151 3,460 4,057 23,933 24,320 -1.6

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Shipments................................ 10,196 10,281 10,438 -0.8 -1.5 -0.1 11,138 10,261 11,387 61,879 61,677 0.3

 New Orders.............................. 10,280 9,996 10,382 2.8 -3.7 -2.8 11,366 9,932 11,996 62,562 64,038 -2.3

 Transportation equipment: 

 Shipments................................ 77,528 77,131 77,515 0.5 -0.5 -0.4 85,634 77,002 77,705 461,898 426,733 8.2

 New Orders.............................. 78,364 71,944 76,623 8.9 -6.1 -4.0 89,888 65,721 86,348 438,818 449,802 -2.4

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Shipments................................ 50,862 50,758 50,796 0.2 -0.1 -0.8 55,145 51,427 48,288 305,625 278,997 9.5

 New Orders.............................. 50,872 50,748 50,915 0.2 -0.3 0.5 54,718 51,247 48,235 305,040 279,871 9.0 

 Nondefense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 14,241 14,366 14,851 -0.9 -3.3 3.3 16,702 13,451 15,201 83,458 70,599 18.2

 New Orders.............................. 17,211 10,360 15,147 66.1 -31.6 -10.7 20,697 5,090 18,489 67,871 81,603 -16.8

 Defense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 5,012 4,656 4,468 7.6 4.2 -3.7 5,656 4,673 5,215 27,015 28,062 -3.7

 New Orders.............................. 4,719 4,038 4,296 16.9 -6.0 -14.1 6,291 3,320 7,926 23,219 28,311 -18.0

 All other durable goods: 

 Shipments................................ 37,787 37,669 38,146 0.3 -1.3 0.0 40,838 38,257 40,228 225,518 218,836 3.1

 New Orders.............................. 37,830 37,673 38,035 0.4 -1.0 -0.5 40,904 38,376 40,365 226,798 220,074 3.1

 Capital goods3:

 Shipments................................ 88,509 88,285 89,080 0.3 -0.9 0.6 98,619 86,568 95,975 524,659 509,410 3.0

 New Orders.............................. 89,551 82,862 87,369 8.1 -5.2 -3.4 102,346 75,541 105,561 510,830 545,603 -6.4

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 78,621 78,758 79,634 -0.2 -1.1 0.9 87,942 77,118 85,982 468,711 453,908 3.3

 New Orders.............................. 80,773 73,857 79,256 9.4 -6.8 -2.2 90,116 68,584 91,729 458,332 480,582 -4.6

 Excluding aircraft:

 Shipments........................... 68,896 68,991 69,177 -0.1 -0.3 0.2 76,500 68,087 75,585 412,663 408,125 1.1

 New Orders.......................... 68,376 67,760 68,051 0.9 -0.4 -0.7 74,980 66,212 79,052 415,254 429,777 -3.4

 Defense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 9,888 9,527 9,446 3.8 0.9 -1.9 10,677 9,450 9,993 55,948 55,502 0.8

 New Orders.............................. 8,778 9,005 8,113 -2.5 11.0 -13.5 12,230 6,957 13,832 52,498 65,021 -19.3

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. 
 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

Jun May Apr May - Apr - Mar - Jun May Jun 2015/

2015 2 2015 r 2015 Jun2 May r Apr 2015 2 2015 r 2014 2014

DURABLE GOODS

 Total:

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 1,195,817 1,194,839 1,200,999 0.1 -0.5 -0.2 1,197,010 1,194,599 1,143,562 4.7

 Total Inventories....................... 402,265 400,641 401,392 0.4 -0.2 0.2 399,297 403,455 384,922 3.7

 Excluding transportation:

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 396,333 396,191 397,164 0.0 -0.2 -0.4 399,337 401,180 396,068 0.8

 Total Inventories....................... 271,461 270,546 271,274 0.3 -0.3 0.1 269,920 272,524 262,736 2.7

 Excluding defense:

 Unfilled Orders4........................... 1,013,125 1,010,356 1,015,687 0.3 -0.5 -0.1 1,011,946 1,010,689 942,382 7.4

 Total Inventories....................... 375,400 373,764 374,828 0.4 -0.3 0.0 372,538 376,488 359,339 3.7

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 1,195,817 1,194,839 1,200,999 0.1 -0.5 -0.2 1,197,010 1,194,599 1,143,562 4.7

 Total Inventories....................... 327,970 326,828 327,815 0.3 -0.3 0.1 326,117 329,421 315,037 3.5

 Primary metals:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 35,820 35,813 35,625 0.0 0.5 0.0 36,108 36,285 37,419 -3.5

 Total Inventories....................... 37,583 37,788 38,024 -0.5 -0.6 -0.6 37,192 37,671 37,641 -1.2

 Fabricated metal products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 82,327 81,873 82,057 0.6 -0.2 -0.6 83,501 83,688 83,368 0.2

 Total Inventories....................... 49,277 49,103 49,296 0.4 -0.4 0.1 49,237 49,567 47,725 3.2

 Machinery: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 112,760 113,727 115,192 -0.9 -1.3 -1.2 113,056 114,867 121,026 -6.6

 Total Inventories....................... 67,042 66,927 67,185 0.2 -0.4 0.1 66,577 67,728 65,628 1.4

 Computers and electronic products4:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 133,891 133,370 132,601 0.4 0.6 0.4 134,262 134,224 123,658 8.6

 Total Inventories....................... 46,374 45,910 45,990 1.0 -0.2 0.7 45,792 46,229 43,547 5.2

 Computers and related products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 2,620 2,565 2,639 2.1 -2.8 3.4 2,620 2,565 2,185 19.9

 Total Inventories....................... 4,087 3,997 3,932 2.3 1.7 1.8 3,916 4,038 3,719 5.3 

 Communications equipment:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 38,802 38,609 38,373 0.5 0.6 0.0 38,826 39,106 34,337 13.1

 Total Inventories....................... 5,839 5,773 5,766 1.1 0.1 -0.2 5,765 5,748 6,135 -6.0

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 22,894 22,810 23,095 0.4 -1.2 -0.2 23,242 23,014 22,217 4.6

 Total Inventories....................... 16,621 16,563 16,673 0.4 -0.7 0.1 16,662 16,802 16,034 3.9

 Transportation equipment: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 799,484 798,648 803,835 0.1 -0.6 -0.1 797,673 793,419 747,494 6.7

 Total Inventories....................... 130,804 130,095 130,118 0.5 0.0 0.3 129,377 130,931 122,186 5.9

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 21,634 21,624 21,634 0.0 0.0 0.6 21,445 21,872 19,794 8.3

 Total Inventories....................... 36,275 36,120 36,107 0.4 0.0 -0.1 35,144 36,047 31,689 10.9 

 Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 611,823 608,853 612,859 0.5 -0.7 0.0 608,189 604,194 546,289 11.3

 Total Inventories....................... 66,503 65,965 66,246 0.8 -0.4 -0.3 66,467 67,027 63,716 4.3

 Defense Aircraft and parts: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 65,265 65,558 66,176 -0.4 -0.9 -0.3 65,593 64,958 70,834 -7.4

 Total Inventories....................... 12,463 12,923 12,957 -3.6 -0.3 2.2 12,433 13,014 12,652 -1.7

 All other durable goods: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 8,641 8,598 8,594 0.5 0.0 -1.3 9,168 9,102 8,380 9.4

 Total Inventories....................... 54,564 54,255 54,106 0.6 0.3 0.1 54,460 54,527 52,161 4.4

 Capital goods3:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 908,872 907,830 913,253 0.1 -0.6 -0.2 910,405 906,678 859,451 5.9

 Total Inventories....................... 199,387 198,338 198,974 0.5 -0.3 0.4 198,618 200,339 192,345 3.3

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 759,240 757,088 761,989 0.3 -0.6 0.0 758,615 756,441 693,441 9.4

 Total Inventories....................... 177,458 176,476 177,319 0.6 -0.5 0.1 176,765 178,478 171,679 3.0

 Excluding aircraft: 

 Unfilled Orders.................... 247,211 247,731 248,962 -0.2 -0.5 -0.5 248,957 250,477 243,177 2.4

 Total Inventories................... 122,031 121,599 121,864 0.4 -0.2 0.2 121,172 122,635 118,847 2.0

 Defense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 149,632 150,742 151,264 -0.7 -0.3 -0.9 151,790 150,237 166,010 -8.6

 Total Inventories....................... 21,929 21,862 21,655 0.3 1.0 2.9 21,853 21,861 20,666 5.7

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 92 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.