FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2008, AT 8:30 A.M. EDT 

Chris Savage or Jessica Young 

Manufacturing and Construction Division 

(301) 763-4832 

M3-1 (08)-03 

CB08-65

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

March 2008 

New Orders 

 New orders for manufactured durable goods in March 

decreased $0.7 billion or 0.3 percent to $212.2 billion, 

the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This was the 

third consecutive monthly decrease and followed a 0.9 

percent February decrease. Excluding transportation, 

new orders increased 1.5 percent. Excluding defense, 

new orders increased 0.3 percent. 

 

 Transportation equipment, down two of the last three 

months, had the largest decrease, $2.9 billion or 4.6 

percent to $60.3 billion. 

 

Shipments 

 Shipments of manufactured durable goods in March, 

down four of the last five months, decreased $0.8 billion 

or 0.4 percent to $210.1 billion. This followed a 2.6 

percent February decrease. 

 Transportation equipment, down four of the last five 

months, had the largest decrease, $1.0 billion or 1.9 

percent to $54.1 billion. 

 

Unfilled Orders 

 Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in 

March, up thirty-four of the last thirty-five months, 

increased $7.3 billion or 0.9 percent to $830.1 billion. 

This was at the highest level since the series was first 

stated on a NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 1.0 

percent February increase. 

 Transportation equipment, up twenty-nine of the last 

thirty months, had the largest increase, $6.2 billion or 

1.3 percent to $492.9 billion. 

Inventories 

 Inventories of manufactured durable goods in March, 

up eight of the last nine months, increased $3.5 billion or 

1.1 percent to $327.1 billion. This was also at the 

highest level since the series was first stated on a NAICS 

basis in 1992 and followed a 0.5 percent February 

increase. 

 Transportation equipment, up fourteen of the last 

fifteen months, had the largest increase, $1.9 billion or 

2.3 percent to $85.9 billion. 

Capital Goods 

 Nondefense new orders for capital goods in March 

increased $1.1 billion or 1.5 percent to $75.8 billion. 

Shipments increased $0.5 billion or 0.8 percent to $67.2 

billion. Unfilled orders increased $8.6 billion or 1.8 

percent to $484.5 billion. Inventories increased $2.4 

billion or 1.9 percent to $132.2 billion. 

 Defense new orders for capital goods in March 

decreased $1.9 billion or 19.8 percent to $7.8 billion. 

Shipments increased $0.7 billion or 8.3 percent to $9.5 

billion. Unfilled orders decreased $1.7 billion or 1.1 

percent to $148.4 billion. Inventories increased $0.1 

billion or 0.4 percent to $18.7 billion. 

Revised February Data 

 Revised seasonally adjusted February figures for all 

manufacturing industries were: new orders, $425.0 

billion (revised from $424.4 billion); shipments, $423.0 

billion (unchanged); unfilled orders, $822.8 billion 

(revised from $822.4 billion); and total inventories, 

$538.4 billion (unchanged).

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 May 2, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. EDT. The 

advance report on durable goods for April is scheduled for release on May 28, 2008, at 8:30 a.m. EDT. See back page for survey

description. 
 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

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

2008 2 2008 r 2008 Mar 2 Feb r Jan 2008 2 2008 r 2007 2008 2007 08/07

DURABLE GOODS

 Total:

 Shipments............................... 210,128 210,925 216,582 -0.4 -2.6 2.3 223,682 206,600 229,573 625,301 615,083 1.7

 New Orders 4

........................... 212,197 212,850 214,724 -0.3 -0.9 -4.4 228,748 210,674 238,877 641,839 632,306 1.5

 Excluding transportation:

 Shipments............................... 156,000 155,749 158,966 0.2 -2.0 1.8 165,010 150,253 164,208 460,341 444,897 3.5

 New Orders 4

........................... 151,864 149,593 152,771 1.5 -2.1 -0.8 162,367 147,691 161,677 455,038 441,631 3.0

 Excluding defense:

 Shipments............................... 197,842 199,575 205,827 -0.9 -3.0 1.9 209,764 195,547 218,991 591,372 587,034 0.7

 New Orders 4

........................... 200,974 200,393 203,086 0.3 -1.3 -4.0 213,795 198,284 226,595 602,945 600,695 0.4

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Shipments............................... 151,456 149,904 151,440 1.0 -1.0 1.9 162,289 146,231 161,208 444,621 428,148 3.8

 New Orders 4

........................... 158,784 157,764 158,301 0.6 -0.3 -5.8 172,651 156,446 176,188 480,998 464,660 3.5

 Primary metals:

 Shipments............................... 21,207 20,866 20,664 1.6 1.0 1.2 22,025 21,210 20,998 63,763 59,389 7.4

 New Orders.............................. 21,271 21,223 20,970 0.2 1.2 0.8 22,235 22,049 21,335 65,965 60,842 8.4

 Fabricated metal products:

 Shipments............................... 25,887 25,678 25,959 0.8 -1.1 1.5 26,130 25,026 26,779 75,449 74,984 0.6

 New Orders.............................. 26,336 25,905 25,866 1.7 0.2 -3.8 27,855 25,782 27,694 78,577 78,143 0.6

 Machinery:

 Shipments............................... 29,319 29,405 28,394 -0.3 3.6 -2.3 32,164 28,418 30,280 86,532 78,309 10.5

 New Orders.............................. 28,934 27,244 31,183 6.2 -12.6 0.0 31,686 27,569 31,927 90,433 84,766 6.7

 Computers and electronic products:

 Shipments............................... 32,586 32,936 36,769 -1.1 -10.4 8.4 36,729 30,916 35,988 99,396 94,834 4.8

 New Orders 4

........................... 28,318 27,785 27,284 1.9 1.8 -2.7 32,717 26,292 30,681 82,675 77,891 6.1

 Computers and related products:

 Shipments............................... 5,795 5,619 5,745 3.1 -2.2 -1.3 6,795 4,816 6,101 16,198 15,137 7.0

 New Orders.............................. 5,859 5,769 5,185 1.6 11.3 -13.2 6,859 4,966 6,309 15,852 15,203 4.3 

 Communications equipment:

 Shipments............................... 5,482 5,390 5,340 1.7 0.9 -4.1 6,478 4,874 6,304 15,545 15,286 1.7

 New Orders.............................. 5,456 5,470 5,107 -0.3 7.1 -14.1 6,666 5,485 6,390 16,438 16,121 2.0

 Semiconductors:

 Shipments............................... 5,259 5,935 8,719 -11.4 -31.9 35.5 5,296 6,141 5,676 19,839 19,289 2.9

 New Orders 4

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

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Shipments............................... 10,865 10,774 10,916 0.8 -1.3 1.4 11,399 10,258 11,584 31,353 30,880 1.5

 New Orders.............................. 10,904 11,671 11,360 -6.6 2.7 4.5 11,159 11,820 11,543 33,785 33,056 2.2

 Transportation equipment: 

 Shipments............................... 54,128 55,176 57,616 -1.9 -4.2 3.6 58,672 56,347 65,365 164,960 170,186 -3.1

 New Orders.............................. 60,333 63,257 61,953 -4.6 2.1 -12.3 66,381 62,983 77,200 186,801 190,675 -2.0

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Shipments............................... 33,804 35,601 36,938 -5.0 -3.6 0.0 35,006 37,593 44,719 106,758 119,366 -10.6

 New Orders.............................. 33,716 35,333 36,519 -4.6 -3.2 0.1 34,705 37,342 44,347 106,187 119,595 -11.2 

 Nondefense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments............................... 8,413 8,506 10,304 -1.1 -17.4 11.9 10,024 8,185 10,264 25,641 23,954 7.0

 New Orders.............................. 16,431 15,576 14,750 5.5 5.6 -30.3 18,479 13,550 21,644 45,121 40,507 11.4

 Defense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments............................... 5,316 4,670 3,640 13.8 28.3 11.5 6,086 4,309 3,730 13,262 9,592 38.3

 New Orders.............................. 5,616 4,340 4,124 29.4 5.2 -32.5 6,665 3,985 3,048 15,001 8,677 72.9

 All other durable goods: 

 Shipments............................... 36,136 36,090 36,264 0.1 -0.5 -0.3 36,563 34,425 38,579 103,848 106,501 -2.5

 New Orders.............................. 36,101 35,765 36,108 0.9 -0.9 -0.3 36,715 34,179 38,497 103,603 106,933 -3.1

 Capital goods:3

 Shipments............................... 76,606 75,349 78,295 1.7 -3.8 2.5 85,414 72,333 82,391 225,436 211,919 6.4

 New Orders.............................. 83,569 84,367 84,689 -0.9 -0.4 -8.6 94,350 81,775 96,883 255,551 239,285 6.8

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Shipments............................... 67,152 66,622 69,346 0.8 -3.9 1.6 74,827 63,505 73,604 198,456 188,317 5.4

 New Orders.............................. 75,774 74,649 74,878 1.5 -0.3 -7.7 83,519 71,796 86,343 225,044 212,082 6.1

 Excluding aircraft:

 Shipments........................... 62,401 61,668 62,662 1.2 -1.6 -0.4 69,061 58,700 67,233 183,772 174,139 5.5

 New Orders........................ 62,895 62,865 64,145 0.0 -2.0 -1.0 69,449 62,414 69,380 192,429 183,470 4.9

 Defense capital goods:

 Shipments............................... 9,454 8,727 8,949 8.3 -2.5 10.6 10,587 8,828 8,787 26,980 23,602 14.3

 New Orders.............................. 7,795 9,718 9,811 -19.8 -0.9 -15.2 10,831 9,979 10,540 30,507 27,203 12.1

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(06), "Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders: 2001-2006."

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 equipmen

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

Mar Feb Jan Feb - Jan - Dec - Mar Feb Mar 2008/

2008 2 2008 r 2008 Mar 2 Feb r Jan 2008 2 2008 r 2007 2007

DURABLE GOODS

 Total:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 830,083 822,755 814,895 0.9 1.0 0.8 844,130 833,768 718,354 17.5

 Total Inventories....................... 327,054 323,593 322,085 1.1 0.5 0.5 326,544 326,476 310,337 5.2

 Excluding transportation:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 337,202 336,079 336,300 0.3 -0.1 0.8 342,919 340,266 316,867 8.2

 Total Inventories....................... 241,203 239,673 239,130 0.6 0.2 0.3 240,953 242,286 235,084 2.5

 Excluding defense:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 667,087 658,696 651,943 1.3 1.0 0.9 675,683 666,356 556,429 21.4

 Total Inventories....................... 303,599 300,239 299,064 1.1 0.4 0.6 303,132 303,081 289,736 4.6

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 830,083 822,755 814,895 0.9 1.0 0.8 844,130 833,768 718,354 17.5

 Total Inventories....................... 260,239 256,842 255,094 1.3 0.7 0.7 259,762 258,748 243,294 6.8

 Primary metals:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 28,238 28,174 27,817 0.2 1.3 1.1 29,242 29,032 28,145 3.9

 Total Inventories....................... 31,686 31,056 30,807 2.0 0.8 0.3 31,622 31,080 31,304 1.0

 Fabricated metal products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 60,290 59,841 59,614 0.8 0.4 -0.2 61,007 59,282 56,284 8.4

 Total Inventories....................... 42,315 42,292 42,315 0.1 -0.1 0.0 42,837 42,940 42,141 1.7

 Machinery: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 90,963 91,348 93,509 -0.4 -2.3 3.1 93,183 93,661 83,345 11.8

 Total Inventories....................... 53,595 52,948 52,610 1.2 0.6 0.8 53,956 53,845 50,440 7.0

 Computers and electronic products:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 119,146 118,155 117,371 0.8 0.7 -0.6 120,892 119,608 112,538 7.4

 Total Inventories....................... 44,656 44,532 44,217 0.3 0.7 0.1 43,493 44,832 42,895 1.4

 Computers and related products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 3,265 3,201 3,051 2.0 4.9 -15.5 3,265 3,201 3,473 -6.0

 Total Inventories....................... 4,719 4,655 4,558 1.4 2.1 -1.4 4,457 4,711 4,265 4.5

 

 Communications equipment:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 35,289 35,315 35,235 -0.1 0.2 -0.7 35,846 35,658 33,725 6.3

 Total Inventories....................... 7,803 7,459 7,455 4.6 0.1 -0.1 7,563 7,575 6,958 8.7

 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......................... 25,252 25,213 24,316 0.2 3.7 1.9 25,456 25,696 23,912 6.5

 Total Inventories....................... 15,292 15,268 15,128 0.2 0.9 1.6 15,485 15,677 14,484 6.9

 Transportation equipment: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 492,881 486,676 478,595 1.3 1.7 0.9 501,211 493,502 401,487 24.8

 Total Inventories....................... 85,851 83,920 82,955 2.3 1.2 1.2 85,591 84,190 75,253 13.7

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 17,942 18,030 18,298 -0.5 -1.5 -2.2 18,341 18,642 21,196 -13.5

 Total Inventories....................... 23,716 23,501 23,750 0.9 -1.0 -0.8 23,745 23,652 25,211 -5.8 

 Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 328,071 320,053 312,983 2.5 2.3 1.4 331,801 323,346 235,103 41.1

 Total Inventories....................... 37,248 35,771 35,133 4.1 1.8 3.7 37,004 35,787 28,518 29.8

 Defense Aircraft and parts: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 46,148 45,848 46,178 0.7 -0.7 1.1 47,965 47,386 44,108 8.7

 Total Inventories....................... 14,081 13,973 13,907 0.8 0.5 1.2 14,037 13,954 12,484 12.4

 All other durable goods: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 13,313 13,348 13,673 -0.3 -2.4 -1.1 13,139 12,987 12,643 3.9

 Total Inventories....................... 53,659 53,577 54,053 0.2 -0.9 -0.1 53,560 53,912 53,820 -0.5

 Capital goods:3

 Unfilled Orders......................... 632,858 625,895 616,877 1.1 1.5 1.0 643,678 634,742 531,256 21.2

 Total Inventories....................... 150,906 148,409 146,938 1.7 1.0 1.2 150,329 149,726 135,662 10.8

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 484,501 475,879 467,852 1.8 1.7 1.2 490,389 481,697 382,456 28.2

 Total Inventories....................... 132,222 129,807 128,715 1.9 0.8 1.5 131,644 131,064 119,179 10.5

 Excluding aircraft: 

 Unfilled Orders.................... 185,985 185,491 184,294 0.3 0.6 0.8 188,754 188,366 174,251 8.3

 Total Inventories................... 102,866 101,824 101,229 1.0 0.6 0.6 102,375 103,068 96,831 5.7

 Defense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 148,357 150,016 149,025 -1.1 0.7 0.6 153,289 153,045 148,800 3.0

 Total Inventories....................... 18,684 18,602 18,223 0.4 2.1 -1.2 18,685 18,662 16,483 13.4

See footnotes at end of Table 1 
4

NOTICE

Revised historical data for Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders will be issued on 

May 16, 2008. These revisions reflect:

• benchmarking the shipments and inventory data to the 2006 Annual Survey of Manufactures

(ASM) data;

• adjusting new orders and order backlog to be consistent with the benchmarked shipments

and inventory data;

• correcting monthly data for late receipts, reclassifications of reported data, and revisions to

previously reported data; and

• updating the seasonal adjustment factors for all series.

For revised historical data go to http://www.census.gov/m3/hist/naicshist.htm. An accompanying

press release will include the revised 2008 January through March data. Please call Chris Savage on

(301)763-4832 with questions.

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.