FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2008, AT 8:30 A.M. EDT 

Chris Savage or Jessica Young 

Manufacturing and Construction Division 

(301) 763-4832 

M3-1 (08)-09 

CB08-160

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

September 2008 

New Orders 

 New orders for manufactured durable goods in 

September increased $1.6 billion or 0.8 percent to 

$207.8 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced 

today. This was the fourth increase in the last five 

months and followed a 5.5 percent August decrease. 

Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 1.1 

percent. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 0.6 

percent. 

 

 Transportation equipment, up two of the last three 

months, had the largest increase, $3.3 billion or 6.3 

percent to $55.2 billion. This was led by nondefense 

aircraft and parts, which increased $2.3 billion. 

 

Shipments 

 Shipments of manufactured durable goods in 

September, up three of the last four months, increased 

$0.4 billion or 0.2 percent to $208.8 billion. This 

followed a 4.2 percent August decrease. 

 Machinery, up following two consecutive monthly 

decreases, had the largest increase, $1.2 billion or 4.3 

percent to $30.2 billion. 

 

Unfilled Orders 

 Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in 

September, up thirty-one of the last thirty-two months, 

increased $3.0 billion or 0.4 percent to $829.6 billion. 

This was at the highest level since the series was first 

stated on a NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 0.3 

percent August increase. 

 Transportation equipment, up twenty-seven of the last 

twenty-eight months, had the largest increase, $4.5 

billion or 1.0 percent to $470.9 billion. 

Inventories 

 Inventories of manufactured durable goods in 

September, up fourteen of the last fifteen months, 

increased $1.2 billion or 0.4 percent to $340.2 billion. 

This was also at the highest level since the series was 

first stated on a NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 0.8 

percent August increase. 

 Machinery, up seventeen of the last eighteen months, 

had the largest increase, $0.3 billion or 0.6 percent to 

$54.7 billion. 

Capital Goods 

 Nondefense new orders for capital goods in September 

increased $0.6 billion or 0.8 percent to $69.3 billion. 

Shipments increased $1.0 billion or 1.5 percent to $67.8 

billion. Unfilled orders increased $1.5 billion or 0.3 

percent to $483.2 billion. Inventories increased $0.6 

billion or 0.4 percent to $140.5 billion. 

 Defense new orders for capital goods in September 

increased $1.9 billion or 19.6 percent to $11.8 billion. 

Shipments decreased 0.2 percent to $9.0 billion. 

Unfilled orders increased $2.7 billion or 2.0 percent to 

$142.8 billion. Inventories decreased $0.2 billion or 1.3 

percent to $18.8 billion. 

Revised August Data 

 Revised seasonally adjusted August figures for all 

manufacturing industries were: new orders, $442.8 

billion (revised from $444.4 billion); shipments, $445.0 

billion (revised from $446.0 billion); unfilled orders, 

$826.6 billion (revised from $827.2 billion); and total 

inventories, $562.7 billion (revised from $562.5 billion). 

Figures in text are in seasonally adjusted current dollars. 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 November 4, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. EST. The

advance report on durable goods for October is scheduled for release on November 26, 2008, at 8:30 a.m. EST. See back page for

survey description and 2009 release dates. 
 2

Table 1. Durable Goods Manufacturers' Shipments and New Orders

[Millions of Dollars]

Seasonally Adjusted Not Seasonally Adjusted 1

Monthly Percent Change Monthly Year to Date

Item Percent

Sep Aug Jul Aug - Jul - Jun - Sep Aug Sep Change

2008 2 2008 r 2008 Sep 2 Aug r Jul 2008 2 2008 r 2007 2008 2007 08/07

DURABLE GOODS

 Total:

 Shipments................................ 208,769 208,390 217,549 0.2 -4.2 2.2 219,940 210,932 220,448 1,913,295 1,925,782 -0.6

 New Orders4

.............................. 207,812 206,211 218,163 0.8 -5.5 0.7 213,675 205,140 219,016 1,914,611 1,948,944 -1.8

 Excluding transportation:

 Shipments................................ 158,006 158,603 163,365 -0.4 -2.9 2.1 166,679 159,763 161,971 1,437,532 1,404,629 2.3

 New Orders4

.............................. 152,594 154,256 160,850 -1.1 -4.1 0.0 158,754 152,525 157,993 1,411,894 1,374,503 2.7

 Excluding defense:

 Shipments................................ 196,727 196,699 205,451 0.0 -4.3 2.1 207,245 199,441 210,366 1,810,178 1,841,910 -1.7

 New Orders4

.............................. 192,545 193,781 206,100 -0.6 -6.0 1.8 198,683 194,368 210,072 1,807,672 1,867,241 -3.2

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Shipments................................ 150,619 150,384 156,983 0.2 -4.2 1.7 159,240 152,416 156,110 1,373,443 1,342,221 2.3

 New Orders4

.............................. 153,595 152,757 163,192 0.5 -6.4 0.7 156,469 150,883 159,086 1,418,927 1,413,580 0.4

 Primary metals:

 Shipments................................ 22,377 23,120 23,933 -3.2 -3.4 3.5 22,841 23,845 19,902 205,115 183,654 11.7

 New Orders.............................. 20,409 21,376 24,418 -4.5 -12.5 2.9 19,897 22,223 19,246 203,305 182,570 11.4

 Fabricated metal products:

 Shipments................................ 27,885 27,936 28,578 -0.2 -2.2 2.0 29,150 29,599 27,704 252,716 248,081 1.9

 New Orders.............................. 27,480 27,736 28,241 -0.9 -1.8 0.7 27,939 28,623 27,093 254,309 251,375 1.2

 Machinery:

 Shipments................................ 30,178 28,947 29,143 4.3 -0.7 -1.1 30,735 27,980 28,461 264,568 248,857 6.3

 New Orders.............................. 30,787 30,637 32,740 0.5 -6.4 3.8 30,211 28,836 29,040 279,342 255,948 9.1

 Computers and electronic products:

 Shipments................................ 30,648 31,298 33,147 -2.1 -5.6 6.0 34,595 29,516 35,920 285,004 284,811 0.1

 New Orders4

.............................. 27,244 27,640 27,099 -1.4 2.0 -4.5 31,989 25,042 33,257 243,331 242,214 0.5

 Computers and related products:

 Shipments................................ 4,801 4,764 4,945 0.8 -3.7 -4.8 5,713 4,323 6,651 45,239 47,396 -4.6

 New Orders.............................. 4,707 4,845 4,811 -2.8 0.7 -13.1 5,619 4,404 6,749 45,332 47,997 -5.6 

 Communications equipment:

 Shipments................................ 5,649 5,507 6,011 2.6 -8.4 -1.5 7,014 5,211 7,175 50,916 50,370 1.1

 New Orders.............................. 5,298 6,205 5,892 -14.6 5.3 -0.8 6,994 5,309 8,058 51,678 52,204 -1.0

 Semiconductors:

 Shipments................................ 3,933 4,552 5,595 -13.6 -18.6 38.9 3,494 4,259 4,408 44,168 48,197 -8.4

 New Orders4

.............................. (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA)

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Shipments................................ 10,521 10,546 11,063 -0.2 -4.7 3.4 11,275 10,817 11,331 96,251 95,583 0.7

 New Orders.............................. 10,443 10,290 10,658 1.5 -3.5 -8.3 10,758 10,277 10,639 97,743 97,399 0.4

 Transportation equipment: 

 Shipments................................ 50,763 49,787 54,184 2.0 -8.1 2.3 53,261 51,169 58,477 475,763 521,153 -8.7

 New Orders.............................. 55,218 51,955 57,313 6.3 -9.3 2.7 54,921 52,615 61,023 502,717 574,441 -12.5

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Shipments................................ 31,145 30,165 33,167 3.2 -9.1 0.8 32,423 31,852 39,221 301,243 364,989 -17.5

 New Orders.............................. 31,030 30,134 33,042 3.0 -8.8 0.6 32,005 31,453 38,710 299,452 362,899 -17.5 

 Nondefense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 7,832 8,129 9,183 -3.7 -11.5 8.6 7,976 7,946 8,815 74,116 73,772 0.5

 New Orders.............................. 9,934 7,657 12,294 29.7 -37.7 22.3 8,771 7,868 14,373 99,062 127,182 -22.1

 Defense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 5,150 4,717 5,053 9.2 -6.6 8.7 5,546 4,678 3,612 40,545 29,008 39.8

 New Orders.............................. 5,719 5,193 5,881 10.1 -11.7 24.5 5,550 4,560 3,609 42,432 26,699 58.9

 All other durable goods: 

 Shipments................................ 36,397 36,756 37,501 -1.0 -2.0 0.2 38,083 38,006 38,653 333,878 343,643 -2.8

 New Orders.............................. 36,231 36,577 37,694 -0.9 -3.0 0.5 37,960 37,524 38,718 333,864 344,997 -3.2

 Capital goods:3

 Shipments................................ 76,847 75,849 78,153 1.3 -2.9 1.1 82,331 73,647 80,318 686,203 660,340 3.9

 New Orders.............................. 81,105 78,595 83,583 3.2 -6.0 0.4 83,153 73,528 83,659 726,511 721,792 0.7

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 67,805 66,790 69,045 1.5 -3.3 1.2 72,970 64,610 72,205 606,710 591,516 2.6

 New Orders.............................. 69,332 68,750 74,498 0.8 -7.7 3.5 71,884 64,826 77,066 644,387 655,660 -1.7

 Excluding aircraft:

 Shipments........................... 63,733 62,499 63,850 2.0 -2.1 0.3 68,865 60,456 67,285 567,013 550,375 3.0

 New Orders.......................... 63,911 64,830 66,300 -1.4 -2.2 0.3 67,752 60,533 66,918 582,086 564,089 3.2

 Defense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 9,042 9,059 9,108 -0.2 -0.5 0.4 9,361 9,037 8,113 79,493 68,824 15.5

 New Orders.............................. 11,773 9,845 9,085 19.6 8.4 -19.6 11,269 8,702 6,593 82,124 66,132 24.2

NA Not Available r Revised

1

 Shipments and new orders are the totals for the period and are adjusted for trading-day and calendar-month variations; unfilled orders and total inventories are as of the end of the period and are not 

adjusted for trading-day or calendar-month variations.

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. Further details on survey design, 

methodology, and data limitations are contained in our most recent annual benchmark publication, Current Industrial Reports: M3-3(07), "Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders: 2004-2007."

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 Data on new and unfilled orders are not available for the semiconductor industry. Estimates and percent changes for new orders and unfilled orders exclude semiconductor industry data. 

Inventories for semiconductor industry data are included in computers and electronic products and total durable goods industries, but are not shown separately.
 3

Table 2. Durable Goods Manufacturers' Unfilled Orders and Total Inventories

[Millions of Dollars]

Seasonally Adjusted Not Seasonally Adjusted 1

Monthly Percent Change Monthly Percent

Item Change

Sep Aug Jul Aug - Jul - Jun - Sep Aug Sep 2008/

2008 2 2008 r 2008 Sep 2 Aug r Jul 2008 2 2008 r 2007 2007

DURABLE GOODS

 Total:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 829,581 826,605 824,232 0.4 0.3 0.8 817,300 820,071 729,237 12.1

 Total Inventories....................... 340,196 339,008 336,185 0.4 0.8 0.9 338,901 341,854 313,357 8.2

 Excluding transportation:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 358,701 360,180 359,975 -0.4 0.1 0.9 353,551 357,982 327,510 8.0

 Total Inventories....................... 251,402 250,204 247,867 0.5 0.9 0.8 249,939 251,970 235,247 6.2

 Excluding defense:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 670,540 670,789 669,155 0.0 0.2 0.9 662,169 667,237 584,757 13.2

 Total Inventories....................... 315,938 314,459 311,559 0.5 0.9 1.0 314,568 317,188 291,183 8.0

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 829,581 826,605 824,232 0.4 0.3 0.8 817,300 820,071 729,237 12.1

 Total Inventories....................... 273,224 272,571 269,939 0.2 1.0 1.2 272,214 274,856 247,720 9.9

 Primary metals:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 26,394 28,362 30,106 -6.9 -5.8 1.6 25,453 28,397 25,861 -1.6

 Total Inventories....................... 35,257 35,071 34,040 0.5 3.0 1.6 35,226 35,367 31,045 13.5

 Fabricated metal products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 61,541 61,946 62,146 -0.7 -0.3 -0.5 61,012 62,223 58,543 4.2

 Total Inventories....................... 45,020 44,771 44,332 0.6 1.0 1.8 44,790 44,896 41,315 8.4

 Machinery: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 107,463 106,854 105,164 0.6 1.6 3.5 105,161 105,685 85,475 23.0

 Total Inventories....................... 54,740 54,440 54,246 0.6 0.4 0.7 54,306 54,582 51,252 6.0

 Computers and electronic products:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 125,412 124,883 123,989 0.4 0.7 -0.4 124,262 123,374 120,353 3.2

 Total Inventories....................... 47,063 46,988 46,523 0.2 1.0 0.4 46,814 47,927 44,069 6.2

 Computers and related products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 3,810 3,904 3,823 -2.4 2.1 -3.4 3,810 3,904 4,086 -6.8

 Total Inventories....................... 5,042 5,031 5,006 0.2 0.5 -1.5 4,989 5,311 4,888 2.1

 

 Communications equipment:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 37,419 37,770 37,072 -0.9 1.9 -0.3 37,179 37,199 36,884 0.8

 Total Inventories....................... 9,751 9,951 9,621 -2.0 3.4 -0.9 9,650 10,050 9,147 5.5

 Semiconductors:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA)

 Total Inventories4....................... (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA)

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 24,861 24,939 25,195 -0.3 -1.0 -1.6 24,556 25,073 23,666 3.8

 Total Inventories....................... 15,372 15,256 15,145 0.8 0.7 -0.6 14,907 15,193 13,869 7.5

 Transportation equipment: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 470,880 466,425 464,257 1.0 0.5 0.7 463,749 462,089 401,727 15.4

 Total Inventories....................... 88,794 88,804 88,318 0.0 0.6 1.2 88,962 89,884 78,110 13.9

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 17,235 17,350 17,381 -0.7 -0.2 -0.7 16,774 17,192 18,343 -8.6

 Total Inventories....................... 23,177 23,290 23,470 -0.5 -0.8 -0.9 23,169 23,411 24,847 -6.8 

 Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 309,038 306,936 307,408 0.7 -0.2 1.0 305,561 304,766 250,668 21.9

 Total Inventories....................... 40,503 40,037 39,178 1.2 2.2 3.7 40,657 40,720 30,604 32.8

 Defense Aircraft and parts: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 46,395 45,826 45,350 1.2 1.0 1.9 45,189 45,185 39,838 13.4

 Total Inventories....................... 13,926 14,198 14,306 -1.9 -0.8 -1.4 14,015 14,311 12,715 10.2

 All other durable goods: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 13,030 13,196 13,375 -1.3 -1.3 1.5 13,107 13,230 13,612 -3.7

 Total Inventories....................... 53,950 53,678 53,581 0.5 0.2 0.5 53,896 54,005 53,697 0.4

 Capital goods:3

 Unfilled Orders......................... 625,910 621,652 618,906 0.7 0.4 0.9 615,765 614,943 537,824 14.5

 Total Inventories....................... 159,299 158,985 157,838 0.2 0.7 1.3 158,620 160,626 141,649 12.0

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 483,155 481,628 479,668 0.3 0.4 1.1 476,492 477,578 407,939 16.8

 Total Inventories....................... 140,468 139,912 138,532 0.4 1.0 1.4 139,803 141,549 124,049 12.7

 Excluding aircraft: 

 Unfilled Orders.................... 207,136 206,958 204,627 0.1 1.1 1.2 203,857 204,970 186,736 9.2

 Total Inventories................... 108,838 108,509 107,802 0.3 0.7 0.6 107,943 109,601 101,237 6.6

 Defense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 142,755 140,024 139,238 2.0 0.6 0.0 139,273 137,365 129,885 7.2

 Total Inventories....................... 18,831 19,073 19,306 -1.3 -1.2 0.4 18,817 19,077 17,600 6.9

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-in-process, 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 59 publication levels. The survey methodology assumes that the month-tomonth changes of the total operations of those companies in the monthly survey effectively represent the month-tomonth 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 61 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-tomonth 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.

2009 Release Dates for M3 Survey 

Survey Month Advance 8:30 A.M. Preliminary 10:00 A.M. 

November 2008 Dec. 24, 2008 Jan. 6, 2009 

December 2008 Jan. 29, 2009 Feb. 5, 2009 

January 2009 Feb. 26, 2009 Mar. 5, 2009 

February 2009 Mar. 25, 2009 Apr. 2, 2009 

March 2009 Apr. 24, 2009 May 1, 2009 

April 2009 May 28, 2009 Jun. 3, 2009 

May 2009 Jun. 24, 2009 Jul. 2, 2009 

June 2009 Jul. 29, 2009 Aug. 5, 2009 

July 2009 Aug. 26, 2009 Sep. 2, 2009 

August 2009 Sep. 25, 2009 Oct. 2, 2009 

September 2009 Oct. 28, 2009 Nov. 3, 2009 

October 2009 Nov. 25, 2009 Dec. 4, 2009 

November 2009 Dec. 24, 2009