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FOR RELEASE AT 8:30 AM EDT, THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017 

MONTHLY ADVANCE REPORT ON MANUFACTURERS’ SHIPMENTS, 

INVENTORIES AND ORDERS MARCH 2017 

Release Number: CB 17-60 M3-1 (17)-03 

April 27, 2017 — The U.S. Census Bureau announces the March advance report on manufacturers’ 

shipments, inventories and orders: 

New Orders 

New orders for manufactured durable goods in March increased $1.6 billion or 0.7 percent to $238.7 billion, 

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

percent February increase. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 0.2 percent. Excluding defense, 

new orders increased 0.1 percent. Transportation equipment, also up three consecutive months, drove the 

increase, $2.0 billion or 2.4 percent to $83.3 billion. 

Shipments 

Shipments of manufactured durable goods in March, up four of the last five months, increased $0.6 billion 

or 0.2 percent to $239.8 billion. This followed a 0.2 percent February increase. Transportation equipment, 

up following two consecutive monthly decreases, led the increase, $0.4 billion or 0.5 percent to $81.7 

billion. 

Unfilled Orders 

Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in March, up two consecutive months, increased $2.5 

billion or 0.2 percent to $1,119.0 billion. This followed a 0.1 percent February increase. Transportation 

equipment, also up two consecutive months, led the increase, $1.6 billion or 0.2 percent to $755.5 billion. 

DURABLE GOODS – NEW ORDERS

MARCH 2017 $238.7 billion             +0.7%°   

FEBRUARY 2017  

(revised) $237.1 billion             +2.3%°

Next release: May 26, 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.

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

% Change 3.2% -2.9% -4.3% 3.6% 0.2% 0.3% 5.0% -4.7% -0.9% 2.4% 2.3% 0.7%

-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 March, up four of the last five months, increased $0.5 billion 

or 0.1 percent to $385.7 billion. This followed a 0.2 percent February increase. Machinery, also up four of 

the last five months, led the increase, $0.4 billion or 0.6 percent to $66.7 billion. 

Capital Goods 

Nondefense new orders for capital goods in March increased $0.9 billion or 1.2 percent to $75.0 billion. 

Shipments increased $0.9 billion or 1.3 percent to $73.0 billion. Unfilled orders increased $2.0 billion or 

0.3 percent to $693.4 billion. Inventories increased $0.8 billion or 0.4 percent to $171.7 billion. Defense 

new orders for capital goods in March increased $1.1 billion or 12.2 percent to $10.4 billion. Shipments 

decreased $0.5 billion or 4.0 percent to $10.9 billion. Unfilled orders decreased $0.6 billion or 0.4 percent 

to $137.3 billion. Inventories decreased $0.3 billion or 1.3 percent to $21.1 billion. 

Revised February Data

Revised seasonally adjusted February figures for all manufacturing industries were: new orders, $477.7 

billion (revised from $476.5 billion); shipments, $479.8 billion (revised from $480.0 billion); unfilled 

orders, $1,116.6 billion (revised from $1,115.3 billion) and total inventories, $630.0 billion (virtually 

unchanged). 

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

10:00 a.m. EDT. The Advance Report on durable goods for April is scheduled for release on May 26, 2017 

at 8:30 a.m. EDT. View the full schedule in the Economic Briefing Room:<www.census.gov/economicindicators/>. 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 

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 
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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; 

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

annual review of the seasonal adjustment models. 
Data Inquiries Media Inquiries

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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

Mar Feb Jan Feb - Jan - Dec - Mar Feb Mar Change

2017 2 2017 r 2017 Mar 2 Feb r Jan 2017 2 2017 r 2016 2017 2016 2017/2016

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Shipments................................ 239,759 239,171 238,622 0.2 0.2 0.0 262,960 222,811 253,239 697,980 682,985 2.2

 New Orders4

.............................. 238,713 237,085 231,752 0.7 2.3 2.4 265,125 222,997 250,044 696,827 673,964 3.4

 Excluding transportation:

 Shipments................................ 158,071 157,898 156,869 0.1 0.7 0.2 169,069 145,094 161,757 456,400 441,602 3.4

 New Orders4

.............................. 155,417 155,744 154,649 -0.2 0.7 0.3 169,697 148,594 161,697 461,873 445,308 3.7

 Excluding defense:

 Shipments................................ 226,393 225,678 225,718 0.3 0.0 0.0 247,465 210,122 238,664 659,559 646,915 2.0

 New Orders4

.............................. 225,354 225,199 219,189 0.1 2.7 2.2 248,422 212,530 232,497 658,842 637,227 3.4

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Shipments................................ 171,529 170,772 169,647 0.4 0.7 0.1 188,921 158,821 179,502 497,765 480,581 3.6

 New Orders.............................. 173,998 172,220 166,657 1.0 3.3 3.5 194,180 161,811 179,224 507,465 480,908 5.5

 Primary metals:

 Shipments................................ 18,869 18,750 18,621 0.6 0.7 0.6 20,262 18,011 18,839 56,457 53,462 5.6

 New Orders.............................. 19,246 19,095 18,513 0.8 3.1 -0.7 20,747 18,759 19,269 58,558 55,772 5.0

 Fabricated metal products:

 Shipments................................ 31,470 31,575 31,362 -0.3 0.7 1.2 32,882 29,460 30,794 91,386 86,618 5.5

 New Orders.............................. 31,249 31,488 31,455 -0.8 0.1 1.5 33,916 30,918 31,757 94,954 90,017 5.5

 Machinery:

 Shipments................................ 31,301 31,095 30,849 0.7 0.8 -1.0 35,276 29,315 34,160 91,785 90,903 1.0

 New Orders.............................. 31,550 31,618 31,483 -0.2 0.4 1.2 35,558 31,134 33,421 96,356 92,509 4.2

 Computers and electronic products4

:

 Shipments................................ 28,034 28,072 28,071 -0.1 0.0 0.2 30,408 24,289 28,942 79,838 75,773 5.4

 New Orders.............................. 24,818 24,867 24,944 -0.2 -0.3 -0.6 28,510 22,871 27,470 72,595 69,836 4.0

 Computers and related products:

 Shipments................................ 1,745 1,842 1,821 -5.3 1.2 7.1 2,220 1,339 2,266 4,907 5,129 -4.3

 New Orders.............................. 1,830 1,902 1,827 -3.8 4.1 6.8 2,305 1,399 2,263 5,058 5,094 -0.7

 Communications equipment:

 Shipments................................ 3,549 3,464 3,477 2.5 -0.4 -2.5 4,098 2,863 3,883 9,698 9,379 3.4

 New Orders.............................. 3,769 3,813 3,923 -1.2 -2.8 -0.8 4,413 4,048 4,211 11,625 10,811 7.5

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Shipments................................ 9,762 9,697 9,569 0.7 1.3 -0.7 10,363 8,830 9,919 27,696 27,325 1.4

 New Orders.............................. 9,858 9,817 9,606 0.4 2.2 -3.5 10,526 9,259 10,110 28,855 28,616 0.8

 Transportation equipment: 

 Shipments................................ 81,688 81,273 81,753 0.5 -0.6 -0.4 93,891 77,717 91,482 241,580 241,383 0.1

 New Orders.............................. 83,296 81,341 77,103 2.4 5.5 7.0 95,428 74,403 88,347 234,954 228,656 2.8

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Shipments................................ 55,876 56,055 56,589 -0.3 -0.9 -0.2 62,992 55,384 60,906 169,110 167,600 0.9

 New Orders.............................. 55,986 56,421 56,776 -0.8 -0.6 0.2 63,054 56,039 60,666 170,173 167,070 1.9

 Nondefense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 13,024 12,449 13,048 4.6 -4.6 0.4 15,887 10,474 16,038 36,201 37,963 -4.6

 New Orders.............................. 14,437 13,496 8,583 7.0 57.2 83.2 16,802 8,481 10,399 29,432 26,622 10.6

 Defense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 4,461 4,366 3,967 2.2 10.1 -5.1 5,517 3,770 5,687 12,154 12,849 -5.4

 New Orders.............................. 4,898 3,885 4,401 26.1 -11.7 65.9 5,909 3,019 6,740 12,930 13,909 -7.0

 All other durable goods: 

 Shipments................................ 38,635 38,709 38,397 -0.2 0.8 0.3 39,878 35,189 39,103 109,238 107,521 1.6

 New Orders.............................. 38,696 38,859 38,648 -0.4 0.5 0.7 40,440 35,653 39,670 110,555 108,558 1.8

 Capital goods3

:

 Shipments................................ 83,937 83,461 82,942 0.6 0.6 -0.2 94,647 76,087 91,449 240,968 237,336 1.5

 New Orders.............................. 85,398 83,347 80,067 2.5 4.1 5.2 98,702 75,795 91,035 243,525 234,195 4.0

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 73,006 72,072 72,077 1.3 0.0 -0.2 82,131 65,181 79,895 208,858 208,233 0.3

 New Orders.............................. 75,031 74,107 70,061 1.2 5.8 5.3 85,188 67,416 75,788 212,768 203,044 4.8

 Excluding aircraft:

 Shipments........................... 64,584 64,303 63,634 0.4 1.1 -0.4 71,773 59,048 69,768 186,947 185,457 0.8

 New Orders.......................... 65,004 64,880 64,783 0.2 0.1 0.2 73,615 62,887 71,317 196,246 192,142 2.1

 Defense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 10,931 11,389 10,865 -4.0 4.8 -0.5 12,516 10,906 11,554 32,110 29,103 10.3

 New Orders.............................. 10,367 9,240 10,006 12.2 -7.7 4.5 13,514 8,379 15,247 30,757 31,151 -1.3

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. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) Survey, March Advance Report, April 27, 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

Mar Feb Jan Feb - Jan - Dec - Mar Feb Mar 2017/

2017 2 2017 r 2017 Mar 2 Feb r Jan 2017 2 2017 r 2016 2016

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 1,119,042 1,116,573 1,115,125 0.2 0.1 -0.3 1,129,766 1,124,507 1,140,027 -0.9

 Total Inventories....................... 385,651 385,192 384,321 0.1 0.2 0.1 384,769 388,244 384,017 0.2

 Excluding transportation:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 363,541 362,680 361,300 0.2 0.4 0.5 368,429 364,707 357,896 2.9

 Total Inventories....................... 263,272 262,530 261,638 0.3 0.3 0.4 262,459 264,569 259,185 1.3

 Excluding defense:

 Unfilled Orders4

........................... 944,946 942,470 939,415 0.3 0.3 -0.3 953,857 949,806 966,143 -1.3

 Total Inventories....................... 360,310 359,473 358,796 0.2 0.2 0.1 359,520 362,538 358,662 0.2

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 1,119,042 1,116,573 1,115,125 0.2 0.1 -0.3 1,129,766 1,124,507 1,140,027 -0.9

 Total Inventories....................... 312,856 312,675 311,798 0.1 0.3 0.2 311,789 314,347 312,134 -0.1

 Primary metals:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 34,395 34,018 33,673 1.1 1.0 -0.3 35,316 34,831 32,923 7.3

 Total Inventories....................... 32,524 32,196 31,803 1.0 1.2 0.5 32,309 32,459 31,787 1.6

 Fabricated metal products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 74,833 75,054 75,141 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 75,934 74,900 74,846 1.5

 Total Inventories....................... 48,875 49,036 48,903 -0.3 0.3 0.4 49,271 49,372 49,150 0.2

 Machinery: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 94,145 93,896 93,373 0.3 0.6 0.7 95,408 95,126 96,562 -1.2

 Total Inventories....................... 66,745 66,314 66,180 0.6 0.2 -0.2 66,531 66,820 66,205 0.5

 Computers and electronic products4

:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 132,344 132,045 131,716 0.2 0.2 0.6 133,455 132,259 127,602 4.6

 Total Inventories....................... 42,992 43,046 42,917 -0.1 0.3 1.0 42,280 43,353 42,125 0.4

 Computers and related products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 2,598 2,513 2,453 3.4 2.4 0.2 2,598 2,513 2,412 7.7

 Total Inventories....................... 3,931 3,893 3,891 1.0 0.1 -1.4 3,694 3,964 3,434 7.6

 Communications equipment:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 36,874 36,654 36,305 0.6 1.0 1.2 37,308 36,993 34,194 9.1

 Total Inventories....................... 4,482 4,503 4,400 -0.5 2.3 2.6 4,412 4,575 4,567 -3.4

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 18,837 18,741 18,621 0.5 0.6 0.2 19,254 19,091 17,594 9.4

 Total Inventories....................... 16,590 16,495 16,405 0.6 0.5 0.9 16,515 16,560 16,162 2.2

 Transportation equipment: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 755,501 753,893 753,825 0.2 0.0 -0.6 761,337 759,800 782,131 -2.7

 Total Inventories....................... 122,379 122,662 122,683 -0.2 0.0 -0.5 122,310 123,675 124,832 -2.0

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 22,244 22,134 21,768 0.5 1.7 0.9 22,994 22,932 23,029 -0.2

 Total Inventories....................... 33,456 33,511 33,902 -0.2 -1.2 -1.9 33,503 34,006 34,809 -3.8

 Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 573,996 572,583 571,536 0.2 0.2 -0.8 577,716 576,801 599,295 -3.6

 Total Inventories....................... 62,403 62,266 62,151 0.2 0.2 -0.4 62,488 62,827 63,851 -2.1

 Defense Aircraft and parts: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 72,363 71,926 72,407 0.6 -0.7 0.6 73,301 72,909 69,678 5.2

 Total Inventories....................... 11,267 11,387 11,313 -1.1 0.7 2.8 11,239 11,438 11,093 1.3

 All other durable goods: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 8,987 8,926 8,776 0.7 1.7 2.9 9,062 8,500 8,369 8.3

 Total Inventories....................... 55,546 55,443 55,430 0.2 0.0 0.5 55,553 56,005 53,756 3.3

 Capital goods3

:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 830,712 829,251 829,365 0.2 0.0 -0.3 837,730 833,675 847,735 -1.2

 Total Inventories....................... 192,824 192,343 191,733 0.3 0.3 0.1 191,703 193,050 191,277 0.2

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 693,427 691,402 689,367 0.3 0.3 -0.3 698,666 695,609 709,283 -1.5

 Total Inventories....................... 171,703 170,949 170,522 0.4 0.3 -0.1 170,646 171,720 170,778 -0.1

 Excluding aircraft: 

 Unfilled Orders.................... 227,437 227,017 226,440 0.2 0.3 0.5 230,164 228,322 224,371 2.6

 Total Inventories................... 120,537 119,944 119,646 0.5 0.2 0.2 119,222 120,320 117,772 1.2

 Defense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 137,285 137,849 139,998 -0.4 -1.5 -0.6 139,064 138,066 138,452 0.4

 Total Inventories....................... 21,121 21,394 21,211 -1.3 0.9 2.2 21,057 21,330 20,499 2.7

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, March Advance Report, April 27, 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>.