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FOR RELEASE AT 8:30 AM EST, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2018 

MONTHLY ADVANCE REPORT ON MANUFACTURERS’ SHIPMENTS, 

INVENTORIES AND ORDERS JANUARY 2018 

Release Number: CB 18-26 M3-1 (18)-01 

February 27, 2018 — The U.S. Census Bureau announces the January advance report on manufacturers’ 

shipments, inventories and orders: 

New Orders 

New orders for manufactured durable goods in January decreased $9.2 billion or 3.7 percent to $239.7 

billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This decrease, down following two consecutive monthly 

increases, followed a 2.6 percent December increase. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 0.3 

percent. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 2.7 percent. Transportation equipment, also down 

following two consecutive monthly increases, led the decrease, $8.6 billion or 10.0 percent to $77.7 billion. 

Shipments 

Shipments of manufactured durable goods in January, up eight of the last nine months, increased $0.6 

billion or 0.2 percent to $247.0 billion. This followed a 0.5 percent December increase. Transportation 

equipment, up two of the last three months, led the increase, $0.4 billion or 0.5 percent to $81.3 billion. 

Unfilled Orders 

Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in January, down following four consecutive monthly 

increases, decreased $3.1 billion or 0.3 percent to $1,140.9 billion. This followed a 0.6 percent December 

increase. Transportation equipment, down three of the last four months, drove the decrease, $3.6 billion or 

0.5 percent to $771.8 billion. 

DURABLE GOODS – NEW ORDERS

JANUARY 2018 $239.7 billion             ‐3.7%°   

DECEMBER 2017  

(revised) $248.9 billion             +2.6%°

Next release: March 23, 2018

Data adjusted for seasonal variation but not for price changes. 

°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. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders, 

February 27, 2018.

Feb-17 Mar-17 Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17 Jul-17 Aug-17 Sep-17 Oct-17 Nov-17 Dec-17 Jan-18

% Change 1.4% 2.4% -0.8% 0.0% 6.4% -6.8% 2.1% 2.4% -0.4% 1.7% 2.6% -3.7%

-7.0%

-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%

7.0%

DURABLE GOODS NEW ORDERS 2017-2018

Seasonally Adjusted, Month-To-Month Percentage Change

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders,

February 27,  2018.
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Inventories 

Inventories of manufactured durable goods in January, up eighteen of the last nineteen months, increased 

$1.3 billion or 0.3 percent to $408.5 billion. This followed a 0.5 percent December increase. 

Transportation equipment, up two consecutive months, led the increase, $0.7 billion or 0.5 percent to $131.9 

billion. 

Capital Goods 

Nondefense new orders for capital goods in January decreased $1.2 billion or 1.5 percent to $73.6 billion. 

Shipments increased less than $0.1 billion or virtually unchanged to $74.4 billion. Unfilled orders 

decreased $0.7 billion or 0.1 percent to $706.1 billion. Inventories increased $1.0 billion or 0.5 percent to 

$181.9 billion. Defense new orders for capital goods in January decreased $3.3 billion or 26.3 percent to 

$9.2 billion. Shipments increased $0.4 billion or 3.2 percent to $11.5 billion. Unfilled orders decreased 

$2.4 billion or 1.6 percent to $141.0 billion. Inventories decreased $0.2 billion or 0.7 percent to $23.2 

billion. 

Revised December Data

Revised seasonally adjusted December figures for all manufacturing industries were: new orders, $497.9 

billion (revised from $498.2 billion); shipments, $495.4 billion (unchanged); unfilled orders, $1,144.0 

billion (revised from $1,144.4 billion) and total inventories, $669.7 billion (revised from $669.2 billion). 

Revised and more detailed estimates, plus nondurable goods data, will be published on March 6, 2018, at 

10:00 a.m. EST. The Advance Report on durable goods for February is scheduled for release on March 23, 

2018 at 8:30 a.m. EDT. View the full schedule in the Economic Briefing 

Room:<www.census.gov/economic-indicators/>. 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 5,000 reporting 
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units that represent approximately 3,100 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 

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 64 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 57 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>. 

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/. 
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Benchmark notice 

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

issued on May 17, 2018. These revisions result from: 

• benchmarking the M3 shipments and inventories data to the 2016 Annual Survey of Manufactures 

(ASM) and revised 2015 ASM data on a 2012 NAICS basis; 

• incorporating the unfilled orders to shipments ratios obtained from the 2016/2015 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 shipments 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. 

These revisions will span the seasonally adjusted data for January 2002 through March 2018 and the data 

not seasonally adjusted for January 2007 through March 2018. An updated Press Release will contain 

revised monthly tables for January 2018 through March 2018. Please call M3 staff on (301) 763-4832 with 

any questions. 

###
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

Jan Dec Nov Dec - Nov - Oct - Jan Dec Jan Change

2018 2 2017 r 2017 Jan 2 Dec r Nov 2018 2 2017 r 2017 2018 2017 2018/2017

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Shipments................................ 246,997 246,411 245,282 0.2 0.5 1.3 225,021 239,233 207,910 225,021 207,910 8.2

 New Orders4

.............................. 239,724 248,891 242,477 -3.7 2.6 1.7 220,037 253,594 202,122 220,037 202,122 8.9

 Excluding transportation:

 Shipments................................ 165,682 165,509 163,850 0.1 1.0 0.6 153,261 160,836 140,873 153,261 140,873 8.8

 New Orders

4

.............................. 162,002 162,537 161,344 -0.3 0.7 0.4 153,124 157,105 140,367 153,124 140,367 9.1

 Excluding defense:

 Shipments................................ 233,392 233,172 232,204 0.1 0.4 1.3 214,039 224,221 198,523 214,039 198,523 7.8

 New Orders4

.............................. 228,738 235,015 230,059 -2.7 2.2 1.5 211,211 234,548 192,246 211,211 192,246 9.9

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Shipments................................ 174,547 173,863 172,943 0.4 0.5 1.7 157,837 171,866 144,156 157,837 144,156 9.5

 New Orders.............................. 171,441 180,509 174,380 -5.0 3.5 2.2 158,289 190,113 144,748 158,289 144,748 9.4

 Primary metals:

 Shipments................................ 20,728 20,735 20,202 0.0 2.6 1.2 20,786 18,356 18,459 20,786 18,459 12.6

 New Orders.............................. 20,764 20,961 20,615 -0.9 1.7 1.9 21,436 19,022 18,912 21,436 18,912 13.3

 Fabricated metal products:

 Shipments................................ 33,659 33,351 32,962 0.9 1.2 0.7 31,760 30,353 28,584 31,760 28,584 11.1

 New Orders.............................. 34,152 33,977 33,380 0.5 1.8 0.3 33,149 30,288 29,690 33,149 29,690 11.7

 Machinery:

 Shipments................................ 32,788 32,747 32,514 0.1 0.7 -0.1 29,467 32,977 26,411 29,467 26,411 11.6

 New Orders.............................. 32,917 33,057 32,890 -0.4 0.5 -0.3 31,708 32,560 28,868 31,708 28,868 9.8

 Computers and electronic products4

:

 Shipments................................ 28,245 28,020 27,935 0.8 0.3 0.6 25,709 31,232 24,603 25,709 24,603 4.5

 New Orders.............................. 24,145 23,993 23,925 0.6 0.3 -0.8 20,808 27,985 19,079 20,808 19,079 9.1

 Computers and related products:

 Shipments................................ 1,926 1,782 1,889 8.1 -5.7 -3.4 1,472 2,433 1,516 1,472 1,516 -2.9

 New Orders.............................. 1,932 1,816 1,909 6.4 -4.9 -3.9 1,478 2,467 1,522 1,478 1,522 -2.9

 Communications equipment:

 Shipments................................ 3,298 3,284 3,193 0.4 2.8 1.2 2,615 4,199 2,326 2,615 2,326 12.4

 New Orders.............................. 3,497 3,281 3,368 6.6 -2.6 -6.1 2,791 4,192 2,620 2,791 2,620 6.5

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Shipments................................ 10,315 10,229 10,170 0.8 0.6 -0.1 9,366 9,945 8,805 9,366 8,805 6.4

 New Orders.............................. 9,992 10,069 10,362 -0.8 -2.8 0.4 9,584 10,029 9,507 9,584 9,507 0.8

 Transportation equipment: 

 Shipments................................ 81,315 80,902 81,432 0.5 -0.7 2.8 71,760 78,397 67,037 71,760 67,037 7.0

 New Orders.............................. 77,722 86,354 81,133 -10.0 6.4 4.5 66,913 96,489 61,755 66,913 61,755 8.4

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Shipments................................ 56,323 56,146 56,142 0.3 0.0 1.5 52,212 49,620 48,647 52,212 48,647 7.3

 New Orders.............................. 56,438 56,407 56,464 0.1 -0.1 1.9 52,435 50,584 48,846 52,435 48,846 7.3

 Nondefense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 11,437 11,372 12,037 0.6 -5.5 11.4 8,784 14,090 8,863 8,784 8,863 -0.9

 New Orders.............................. 10,376 14,487 12,475 -28.4 16.1 14.1 5,848 26,204 3,143 5,848 3,143 86.1

 Defense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 4,228 4,233 4,186 -0.1 1.1 -2.1 3,104 5,207 2,609 3,104 2,609 19.0

 New Orders.............................. 2,760 5,069 3,430 -45.6 47.8 3.4 2,436 7,438 3,747 2,436 3,747 -35.0

 All other durable goods: 

 Shipments................................ 39,947 40,427 40,067 -1.2 0.9 0.8 36,173 37,973 34,011 36,173 34,011 6.4

 New Orders.............................. 40,032 40,480 40,172 -1.1 0.8 1.0 36,439 37,221 34,311 36,439 34,311 6.2

 Capital goods3

:

 Shipments................................ 85,898 85,529 85,647 0.4 -0.1 1.9 74,448 93,018 67,139 74,448 67,139 10.9

 New Orders.............................. 82,822 87,248 85,837 -5.1 1.6 2.7 72,125 104,865 65,686 72,125 65,686 9.8

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 74,369 74,358 74,537 0.0 -0.2 2.0 65,077 80,631 59,173 65,077 59,173 10.0

 New Orders.............................. 73,644 74,796 75,119 -1.5 -0.4 2.1 64,645 87,899 57,628 64,645 57,628 12.2

 Excluding aircraft:

 Shipments........................... 67,114 67,080 66,637 0.1 0.7 0.3 60,188 70,871 54,298 60,188 54,298 10.8

 New Orders.......................... 66,695 66,849 67,256 -0.2 -0.6 0.1 62,451 69,667 57,808 62,451 57,808 8.0

 Defense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 11,529 11,171 11,110 3.2 0.5 1.4 9,371 12,387 7,966 9,371 7,966 17.6

 New Orders.............................. 9,178 12,452 10,718 -26.3 16.2 6.6 7,480 16,966 8,058 7,480 8,058 -7.2

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 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, January Advance Report, February 27, 2018. 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

Jan Dec Nov Dec - Nov - Oct - Jan Dec Jan 2018/

2018 2 2017 r 2017 Jan 2 Dec r Nov 2018 2 2017 r 2017 2017

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 1,140,851 1,143,957 1,137,311 -0.3 0.6 0.1 1,144,965 1,144,513 1,123,334 1.9

 Total Inventories....................... 408,537 407,286 405,427 0.3 0.5 0.3 408,152 396,641 391,176 4.3

 Excluding transportation:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 369,089 368,602 367,408 0.1 0.3 0.5 367,024 361,725 350,537 4.7

 Total Inventories....................... 276,676 276,120 274,870 0.2 0.5 0.5 276,201 268,997 261,783 5.5

 Excluding defense:

 Unfilled Orders4

........................... 966,379 966,866 960,857 -0.1 0.6 0.2 969,871 967,263 942,957 2.9

 Total Inventories....................... 381,230 379,756 378,140 0.4 0.4 0.4 381,039 369,304 365,180 4.3

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 1,140,851 1,143,957 1,137,311 -0.3 0.6 0.1 1,144,965 1,144,513 1,123,334 1.9

 Total Inventories....................... 332,517 331,484 330,122 0.3 0.4 0.3 331,386 322,653 317,718 4.3

 Primary metals:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 31,674 31,638 31,412 0.1 0.7 1.3 31,912 31,262 29,395 8.6

 Total Inventories....................... 34,338 34,268 34,237 0.2 0.1 0.4 34,484 34,054 31,887 8.1

 Fabricated metal products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 82,390 81,897 81,271 0.6 0.8 0.5 80,740 79,351 74,365 8.6

 Total Inventories....................... 51,331 51,164 50,880 0.3 0.6 0.8 51,259 50,350 47,961 6.9

 Machinery: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 102,173 102,044 101,734 0.1 0.3 0.4 102,513 100,272 98,106 4.5

 Total Inventories....................... 70,325 70,319 69,975 0.0 0.5 0.5 69,972 67,776 66,369 5.4

 Computers and electronic products4

:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 119,982 119,915 119,776 0.1 0.1 0.2 119,668 119,133 116,764 2.5

 Total Inventories....................... 45,481 45,406 45,338 0.2 0.1 0.4 45,037 43,656 43,472 3.6

 Computers and related products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 2,011 2,005 1,971 0.3 1.7 1.0 2,011 2,005 1,695 18.6

 Total Inventories....................... 4,362 4,371 4,364 -0.2 0.2 -0.4 4,359 4,030 4,331 0.6

 Communications equipment:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 28,659 28,460 28,463 0.7 0.0 0.6 28,307 28,131 26,067 8.6

 Total Inventories....................... 4,596 4,585 4,591 0.2 -0.1 0.3 4,564 4,372 4,481 1.9

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 22,279 22,602 22,762 -1.4 -0.7 0.9 22,319 22,101 22,339 -0.1

 Total Inventories....................... 18,260 18,114 17,910 0.8 1.1 0.5 18,172 17,316 17,013 6.8

 Transportation equipment: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 771,762 775,355 769,903 -0.5 0.7 0.0 777,941 782,788 772,797 0.7

 Total Inventories....................... 131,861 131,166 130,557 0.5 0.5 -0.3 131,951 127,644 129,393 2.0

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 24,638 24,523 24,262 0.5 1.1 1.3 24,857 24,634 23,099 7.6

 Total Inventories....................... 35,380 35,163 34,697 0.6 1.3 0.1 35,831 33,988 34,729 3.2

 Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 581,181 582,242 579,127 -0.2 0.5 0.1 586,283 589,219 578,059 1.4

 Total Inventories....................... 67,764 67,057 67,194 1.1 -0.2 0.0 67,648 65,020 67,029 0.9

 Defense Aircraft and parts: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 70,932 72,400 71,564 -2.0 1.2 -1.0 71,424 72,092 72,538 -1.5

 Total Inventories....................... 13,184 13,400 13,353 -1.6 0.4 -0.6 13,098 13,321 12,084 8.4

 All other durable goods: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 10,591 10,506 10,453 0.8 0.5 1.0 9,872 9,606 9,568 3.2

 Total Inventories....................... 56,941 56,849 56,530 0.2 0.6 0.4 57,277 55,845 55,081 4.0

 Capital goods3

:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 847,086 850,162 848,443 -0.4 0.2 0.0 851,247 853,570 842,724 1.0

 Total Inventories....................... 205,094 204,260 203,474 0.4 0.4 0.1 203,679 197,757 196,685 3.6

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 706,110 706,835 706,397 -0.1 0.1 0.1 709,669 710,101 697,144 1.8

 Total Inventories....................... 181,943 180,950 180,412 0.5 0.3 0.3 180,636 174,561 175,085 3.2

 Excluding aircraft: 

 Unfilled Orders.................... 228,667 229,086 229,317 -0.2 -0.1 0.3 227,647 225,384 223,075 2.0

 Total Inventories................... 125,626 125,395 124,712 0.2 0.5 0.3 124,517 121,032 119,685 4.0

 Defense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 140,976 143,327 142,046 -1.6 0.9 -0.3 141,578 143,469 145,580 -2.7

 Total Inventories....................... 23,151 23,310 23,062 -0.7 1.1 -1.5 23,043 23,196 21,600 6.7

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, January Advance Report, February 27, 2018. 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>.