FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2012, AT 8:30 A.M. EDT 

Chris Savage or Adriana Stoica 

Manufacturing and Construction Division 

(301) 763-4832 

M3-1 (12)-2 

CB12-48

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

February 2012 

New Orders 

 New orders for manufactured durable goods in 

February increased $4.5 billion or 2.2 percent to $211.8 

billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This 

increase, up four of the last five months, followed a 3.6 

percent January decrease. Excluding transportation, new 

orders increased 1.6 percent. Excluding defense, new 

orders increased 1.7 percent. 

 

 Transportation equipment, up three of the last four 

months, had the largest increase, $2.1 billion or 3.9 

percent to $57.9 billion. This was led by nondefense 

aircraft and parts, which increased $1.0 billion. 

Shipments 

 Shipments of manufactured durable goods in February, 

down following two consecutive monthly increases, 

decreased $0.8 billion or 0.4 percent to $206.6 billion. 

This followed a 0.1 percent January increase. 

 Transportation equipment, also down following two 

consecutive monthly increases, had the largest decrease, 

$1.3 billion or 2.5 percent to $49.2 billion. This 

followed a 5.7 percent January increase. 

 

Unfilled Orders 

 Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in 

February, up twenty-two of the last twenty-three months, 

increased $11.5 billion or 1.3 percent to $930.3 billion. 

This followed a 0.7 percent January increase. 

 Transportation equipment, up thirteen of the last 

fourteen months, had the largest increase, $8.6 billion or 

1.6 percent to $544.0 billion. 

Inventories 

 Inventories of manufactured durable goods in 

February, up twenty-six consecutive months, increased 

$1.6 billion or 0.4 percent to $373.7 billion. This was at 

the highest level since the series was first published on a 

NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 0.6 percent January 

increase. 

 Machinery, up twenty-three consecutive months, had 

the largest increase, $0.6 billion or 0.9 percent to $62.2 

billion. This was also at the highest level since the series 

was first published on a NAICS basis. 

Capital Goods 

 Nondefense new orders for capital goods in February 

increased $1.2 billion or 1.5 percent to $81.8 billion. 

Shipments increased $0.3 billion or 0.5 percent to $71.2 

billion. Unfilled orders increased $10.6 billion or 1.9 

percent to $566.1 billion. Inventories increased $1.3 

billion or 0.8 percent to $173.1 billion. 

 Defense new orders for capital goods in February 

increased $0.8 billion or 12.4 percent to $7.0 billion. 

Shipments decreased $0.6 billion or 7.8 percent to $6.9 

billion. Unfilled orders increased $0.1 billion or 0.1 

percent to $147.6 billion. Inventories increased slightly 

or 0.2 percent to $20.1 billion. 

Revised January Data 

 Revised seasonally adjusted January figures for all 

manufacturing industries were: new orders, $462.9 

billion (revised from $462.6 billion); shipments, $463.1 

billion (revised from $463.6 billion); unfilled orders, 

$918.8 billion (revised from $917.9 billion); and total 

inventories, $614.3 billion (revised from $614.7 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 April 3, 2012, at 10:00 a.m. EDT. The advance report on durable goods for March is scheduled for release on April 25, 2012, at 8:30 a.m. EDT. See back page for survey description. 
 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

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

2012 2 2012 r 2011 Feb 2 Jan r Dec 2012 2 2012 r 2011 2012 2011 12/11

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Shipments................................ 206,558 207,351 207,200 -0.4 0.1 2.0 199,002 187,762 176,499 386,764 347,385 11.3

 New Orders4

.............................. 211,765 207,221 214,960 2.2 -3.6 3.3 208,333 191,712 176,967 400,045 352,364 13.5

 Excluding transportation:

 Shipments................................ 157,348 156,873 159,459 0.3 -1.6 2.3 150,084 144,285 132,993 294,369 265,434 10.9

 New Orders4

.............................. 153,910 151,512 156,160 1.6 -3.0 2.3 151,319 141,989 133,418 293,308 265,849 10.3

 Excluding defense:

 Shipments................................ 197,381 197,297 197,244 0.0 0.0 1.8 189,946 179,756 166,482 369,702 329,070 12.3

 New Orders4

.............................. 202,183 198,761 207,325 1.7 -4.1 3.9 198,215 183,359 167,041 381,574 328,979 16.0

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Shipments................................ 149,282 150,076 151,193 -0.5 -0.7 3.2 143,454 134,366 127,011 277,820 248,571 11.8

 New Orders.............................. 160,785 156,392 164,856 2.8 -5.1 4.2 158,859 146,472 133,090 305,331 267,627 14.1

 Primary metals:

 Shipments................................ 27,362 27,228 28,360 0.5 -4.0 5.4 27,206 26,173 20,651 53,379 40,668 31.3

 New Orders.............................. 26,948 26,607 28,978 1.3 -8.2 3.9 27,529 26,940 20,325 54,469 42,885 27.0

 Fabricated metal products:

 Shipments................................ 26,301 26,397 26,184 -0.4 0.8 2.5 24,905 24,303 22,179 49,208 44,096 11.6

 New Orders.............................. 26,698 26,606 26,205 0.3 1.5 1.0 26,255 25,027 24,239 51,282 47,044 9.0

 Machinery:

 Shipments................................ 30,592 29,904 31,663 2.3 -5.6 3.8 29,692 26,811 25,658 56,503 49,905 13.2

 New Orders.............................. 32,793 31,012 34,100 5.7 -9.1 6.5 32,640 29,546 27,395 62,186 55,483 12.1

 Computers and electronic products4

:

 Shipments................................ 30,151 29,845 30,054 1.0 -0.7 -0.9 27,605 28,049 26,676 55,654 56,178 -0.9

 New Orders.............................. 24,425 23,789 23,299 2.7 2.1 -0.2 23,335 20,579 22,435 43,914 43,783 0.3

 Computers and related products:

 Shipments................................ 5,569 5,376 5,670 3.6 -5.2 -2.4 4,321 4,310 4,182 8,631 8,916 -3.2

 New Orders.............................. 5,477 5,136 5,599 6.6 -8.3 -5.7 4,229 4,070 4,007 8,299 8,593 -3.4

 Communications equipment:

 Shipments................................ 3,079 2,878 3,181 7.0 -9.5 11.4 2,726 2,274 2,847 5,000 5,653 -11.6

 New Orders.............................. 3,265 2,936 2,907 11.2 1.0 2.3 3,318 2,355 2,949 5,673 5,603 1.2

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Shipments................................ 10,260 10,404 10,211 -1.4 1.9 1.3 9,778 9,279 9,127 19,057 17,831 6.9

 New Orders.............................. 10,254 10,517 10,617 -2.5 -0.9 -0.6 10,332 10,329 10,160 20,661 19,755 4.6

 Transportation equipment: 

 Shipments................................ 49,210 50,478 47,741 -2.5 5.7 1.1 48,918 43,477 43,506 92,395 81,951 12.7

 New Orders.............................. 57,855 55,709 58,800 3.9 -5.3 6.3 57,014 49,723 43,549 106,737 86,515 23.4

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Shipments................................ 31,269 30,883 30,221 1.2 2.2 1.0 31,929 28,526 27,624 60,455 52,908 14.3

 New Orders.............................. 31,290 30,784 30,381 1.6 1.3 1.0 32,069 28,555 27,796 60,624 53,225 13.9

 Nondefense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 8,459 9,051 7,787 -6.5 16.2 1.0 7,850 6,637 6,042 14,487 10,922 32.6

 New Orders.............................. 17,410 16,427 19,847 6.0 -17.2 21.0 15,971 13,005 7,795 28,976 12,605 129.9

 Defense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 3,807 4,608 4,004 -17.4 15.1 5.6 3,581 3,475 3,971 7,056 7,255 -2.7

 New Orders.............................. 4,429 3,938 3,882 12.5 1.4 -6.4 4,200 3,900 3,925 8,100 9,240 -12.3

 All other durable goods: 

 Shipments................................ 32,682 33,095 32,987 -1.2 0.3 1.4 30,898 29,670 28,702 60,568 56,756 6.7

 New Orders.............................. 32,792 32,981 32,961 -0.6 0.1 0.5 31,228 29,568 28,864 60,796 56,899 6.8

 Capital goods3

:

 Shipments................................ 78,104 78,339 79,197 -0.3 -1.1 3.2 74,139 67,942 67,128 142,081 130,286 9.1

 New Orders.............................. 88,822 86,816 90,060 2.3 -3.6 5.2 86,399 79,052 71,640 165,451 142,418 16.2

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 71,218 70,871 71,561 0.5 -1.0 2.6 67,151 61,853 59,073 129,004 115,665 11.5

 New Orders.............................. 81,793 80,561 84,983 1.5 -5.2 6.9 78,704 72,742 63,622 151,446 122,889 23.2

 Excluding aircraft:

 Shipments........................... 65,858 64,948 66,965 1.4 -3.0 2.8 62,213 58,000 55,662 120,213 110,065 9.2

 New Orders.......................... 67,427 66,598 69,157 1.2 -3.7 3.5 65,930 62,253 58,740 128,183 116,514 10.0

 Defense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 6,886 7,468 7,636 -7.8 -2.2 9.6 6,988 6,089 8,055 13,077 14,621 -10.6

 New Orders.............................. 7,029 6,255 5,077 12.4 23.2 -16.3 7,695 6,310 8,018 14,005 19,529 -28.3

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 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

Feb Jan Dec Jan - Dec - Nov - Feb Jan Feb 2012/

2012 2 2012 r 2011 Feb 2 Jan r Dec 2012 2 2012 r 2011 2011

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 930,326 918,823 912,507 1.3 0.7 1.5 937,874 922,469 848,514 10.5

 Total Inventories....................... 373,718 372,153 370,100 0.4 0.6 0.3 374,503 370,269 344,068 8.8

 Excluding transportation:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 386,348 383,490 382,405 0.7 0.3 0.7 389,071 381,762 354,690 9.7

 Total Inventories....................... 256,588 255,434 253,766 0.5 0.7 -0.2 257,644 254,354 241,060 6.9

 Excluding defense:

 Unfilled Orders4........................... 763,299 752,201 744,291 1.5 1.1 2.2 769,342 754,999 680,040 13.1

 Total Inventories....................... 348,340 346,830 344,766 0.4 0.6 0.6 349,076 344,979 318,983 9.4

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 930,326 918,823 912,507 1.3 0.7 1.5 937,874 922,469 848,514 10.5

 Total Inventories....................... 307,450 305,655 303,235 0.6 0.8 0.3 307,317 303,706 279,895 9.8

 Primary metals:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 33,484 33,898 34,519 -1.2 -1.8 1.8 34,667 34,344 33,878 2.3

 Total Inventories....................... 35,156 34,690 34,511 1.3 0.5 0.4 34,435 33,903 31,623 8.9

 Fabricated metal products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 66,974 66,577 66,368 0.6 0.3 0.0 66,785 65,435 62,236 7.3

 Total Inventories....................... 46,398 46,154 46,070 0.5 0.2 -0.6 46,525 46,114 43,185 7.7

 Machinery: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 124,394 122,193 121,085 1.8 0.9 2.1 124,617 121,669 99,856 24.8

 Total Inventories....................... 62,171 61,607 60,601 0.9 1.7 0.4 63,073 61,518 55,566 13.5

 Computers and electronic products4:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 124,649 124,079 123,689 0.5 0.3 -0.7 125,939 124,135 125,553 0.3

 Total Inventories....................... 47,521 47,626 47,324 -0.2 0.6 -1.2 47,840 47,578 47,044 1.7

 Computers and related products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 3,112 3,204 3,444 -2.9 -7.0 -2.0 3,112 3,204 3,331 -6.6

 Total Inventories....................... 5,873 6,001 5,995 -2.1 0.1 -1.6 5,931 5,781 5,578 6.3

 Communications equipment:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 28,356 28,170 28,112 0.7 0.2 -1.0 28,819 28,227 29,541 -2.4

 Total Inventories....................... 9,250 9,181 8,977 0.8 2.3 -5.3 9,415 9,307 9,405 0.1

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 28,303 28,309 28,196 0.0 0.4 1.5 28,884 28,330 25,176 14.7

 Total Inventories....................... 15,876 15,931 15,419 -0.3 3.3 -0.1 15,927 15,800 15,265 4.3

 Transportation equipment: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 543,978 535,333 530,102 1.6 1.0 2.1 548,803 540,707 493,824 11.1

 Total Inventories....................... 117,130 116,719 116,334 0.4 0.3 1.4 116,859 115,915 103,008 13.4

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 13,958 13,937 14,036 0.2 -0.7 1.2 14,574 14,434 14,113 3.3

 Total Inventories....................... 26,489 26,799 26,678 -1.2 0.5 0.9 26,621 26,977 24,704 7.8

 Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 392,813 383,862 376,486 2.3 2.0 3.3 395,880 387,759 339,099 16.7

 Total Inventories....................... 65,122 64,467 64,191 1.0 0.4 2.0 64,641 63,503 53,538 20.7

 Defense Aircraft and parts: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 55,504 54,882 55,552 1.1 -1.2 -0.2 56,268 55,649 54,090 4.0

 Total Inventories....................... 14,860 14,616 14,648 1.7 -0.2 -1.2 14,782 14,492 13,810 7.0

 All other durable goods: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 8,544 8,434 8,548 1.3 -1.3 -0.3 8,179 7,849 7,991 2.4

 Total Inventories....................... 49,466 49,426 49,841 0.1 -0.8 0.2 49,844 49,441 48,377 3.0

 Capital goods3:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 713,731 703,013 694,536 1.5 1.2 1.6 719,025 706,765 640,344 12.3

 Total Inventories....................... 193,170 191,809 190,422 0.7 0.7 0.2 193,704 190,286 173,265 11.8

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 566,130 555,555 545,865 1.9 1.8 2.5 570,316 558,763 490,764 16.2

 Total Inventories....................... 173,063 171,737 170,378 0.8 0.8 0.5 173,470 170,123 153,362 13.1

 Excluding aircraft: 

 Unfilled Orders.................... 216,711 215,142 213,492 0.7 0.8 1.0 218,477 214,760 192,543 13.5

 Total Inventories................... 117,254 116,507 115,340 0.6 1.0 -0.1 118,187 115,846 108,025 9.4

 Defense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 147,601 147,458 148,671 0.1 -0.8 -1.7 148,709 148,002 149,580 -0.6

 Total Inventories....................... 20,107 20,072 20,044 0.2 0.1 -2.7 20,234 20,163 19,903 1.7

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. This survey provides statistics on 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). The M3 includes approximately 4,300 reporting units. Units may be 

divisions of diversified large companies, large homogenous companies, or single-unit manufacturers in 89 

industry categories. Due to the small monthly sample, these 89 categories have been combined into 65 

publication levels. The survey methodology assumes that the month-to-month changes of the total 

operations of those companies in the monthly survey effectively represent the month-to-month 

movements of all establishments that make up the category. The current coverage levels in the survey 

show that reported data in the monthly survey represent approximately 60 percent of the shipments 

estimates at the total manufacturing level. Data published represent manufacturing in a calendar month. 

The data collection is based on a voluntary survey authorized by Title 13 of the United States Code. 

The data presented in this release are based on data obtained from a panel of 4,300 reporting units and 

provide an indication of the activity within the manufacturing sector. The results differ from what would 

be obtained from a complete enumeration of all manufacturing companies. In addition, a different panel 

of 4,300 companies would yield different results. The M3 panel is comprised of companies with $500 

million or more in shipments and a limited number of smaller companies. From a statistical perspective, 

the panel is not 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 for Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders will be issued on May 18, 

2012. These revisions reflect: 

 benchmarking the shipments and inventories data to the 2010 Annual Survey of Manufactures 

(ASM) data, as well as revised ASM benchmarks for prior years; 

 incorporating the unfilled orders to shipments ratios obtained from the 2009/2010 Manufacturers’ 

Unfilled Orders Survey by applying these ratios to the respective 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; 

 incorporating the monthly data corrections when producing estimates for industry groups for which 

we identified companies to be tabbed separately from the link-relative estimation procedure; 

 implementing a new SAS® benchmarking program, which is based on the same benchmarking 

methodology as the previous ASCII Fortran program; and 

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

review of the seasonal adjustment models. 

An accompanying press release will include the revised 2012 January through March data. Please call 

Jessica Young on (301) 763-4832 with any questions.