FOR IMMEDIATE RELEAS E 

TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 2015, AT 8:30 A.M. EDT

Adriana Stoica

Economic Indicators Division

(301) 763-4832

M3-1 (15)-05

CB15-109

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

May 2015

New Orders 

 New orders for manufactured durable goods in May

decreased $4.1 billion or 1.8 percent to $228.9 billion, 

the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This

decrease, down three of the last four months, followed a 

1.5 percent April decrease. Excluding transportation, 

new orders increased 0.5 percent. Excluding defense, 

new orders decreased 2.1 percent.

 

 Transportation equipment, also down three of the last 

four months, drove the decrease, $4.9 billion or 6.4

percent to $71.7 billion.

Shipments

 Shipments of manufactured durable goods in May, 

down four of the last five months, decreased $0.2 billion 

or 0.1 percent to $239.9 billion. This followed a 0.2 

percent April decrease. 

 Transportation equipment, also down four of the last 

five months, drove the decrease, $0.7 billion or 0.9

percent to $76.7 billion.

 

Unfilled Orders 

 Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in 

May, down five of the last six months, decreased $5.7

billion or 0.5 percent to $1,195.5 billion. This followed 

a 0.2 percent April decrease. 

 Transportation equipment, also down five of the last six

months, led the decrease, $5.1 billion or 0.6 percent to 

$798.8 billion.

Inventories

 Inventories of manufactured durable goods in May, 

down following twenty-three consecutive monthly 

increases, decreased $0.8 billion or 0.2 percent to $400.6

billion. This followed a 0.2 percent April increase.

 Transportation equipment, down two of the last three 

months, led the decrease, $0.3 billion or 0.2 percent to 

$129.9 billion. 

Capital Goods

 Nondefense new orders for capital goods in May

decreased $5.2 billion or 6.6 percent to $74.3 billion. 

Shipments decreased $0.5 billion or 0.6 percent to $79.3

billion. Unfilled orders decreased $5.0 billion or 0.7

percent to $757.1 billion. Inventories decreased $1.1 

billion or 0.6 percent to $176.2 billion.

 Defense new orders for capital goods in May increased 

$0.7 billion or 8.2 percent to $8.8 billion. Shipments 

increased less than $0.1 billion or 0.3 percent to $9.5 

billion. Unfilled orders decreased $0.7 billion or 0.5

percent to $150.6 billion. Inventories decreased less 

than $0.1 billion or virtually unchanged to $21.6 billion.

Revised April Data

 Revised seasonally adjusted April figures for all 

manufacturing industries were: new orders, $474.5

billion (revised from $476.7 billion); shipments, $481.5

billion (revised from $482.4 billion); unfilled orders, 

$1,201.2 billion (revised from $1,202.4 billion); and 

total inventories, $649.0 billion (virtually unchanged).

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 July 2, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. EDT. The Advance Report on durable goods for June isscheduled 

for release on July 27, 2015 at 8:30 a.m. EDT. See back page for survey description. To receive the latest updates on the Nation's key 

economic indicators, download the America's Economy app for Apple and Android smartphones and tablets. To learn more about this 

release and the other indicators the U.S. Census Bureau publishes, join us for the Investigating Economic Indicators Webinar Series. For 

more information, visit www.census.gov/econ/webinar.

“Virtually unchanged” indicates that the change is less than 0.05 percent for a percent increase or decrease. 
 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

May Apr Mar Apr - Mar - Feb - May Apr May Change

2015 2 2015 r 2015 May 2 Apr r Mar 2015 2 2015 r 2014 2015 2014 2015/2014

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Shipments................................ 239,860 240,099 240,599 -0.1 -0.2 1.5 239,244 240,353 237,603 1,171,234 1,138,931 2.8

 New Orders4

.............................. 228,913 233,030 236,671 -1.8 -1.5 5.1 222,853 228,271 234,566 1,128,259 1,153,217 -2.2

 Excluding transportation:

 Shipments................................ 163,113 162,644 162,760 0.3 -0.1 0.1 162,845 163,202 164,971 795,679 789,903 0.7

 New Orders4

.............................. 157,247 156,451 156,879 0.5 -0.3 0.6 157,186 157,860 161,948 779,489 789,763 -1.3

 Excluding defense:

 Shipments................................ 228,184 228,408 228,560 -0.1 -0.1 1.3 227,728 229,425 225,918 1,115,064 1,081,756 3.1

 New Orders4

.............................. 217,817 222,469 224,303 -2.1 -0.8 3.4 214,034 218,915 224,998 1,079,206 1,090,703 -1.1

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Shipments................................ 171,534 172,319 172,298 -0.5 0.0 1.3 171,339 170,334 169,334 839,515 810,369 3.6

 New Orders.............................. 165,796 170,037 173,241 -2.5 -1.8 6.0 159,043 164,044 170,367 820,448 851,619 -3.7

 Primary metals:

 Shipments................................ 21,563 21,563 22,030 0.0 -2.1 -0.9 21,693 22,198 23,838 110,576 114,671 -3.6

 New Orders.............................. 21,733 21,613 21,379 0.6 1.1 -2.5 21,376 21,942 23,857 110,688 116,914 -5.3

 Fabricated metal products:

 Shipments................................ 30,015 30,056 30,103 -0.1 -0.2 -0.3 30,311 30,402 30,725 147,900 145,489 1.7

 New Orders.............................. 29,806 29,629 29,332 0.6 1.0 -0.5 30,569 30,350 31,780 149,935 151,496 -1.0

 Machinery:

 Shipments................................ 33,555 33,294 33,167 0.8 0.4 0.1 34,127 33,921 34,963 164,602 167,364 -1.7

 New Orders.............................. 31,996 31,876 31,727 0.4 0.5 -0.5 32,018 33,350 34,785 162,217 178,094 -8.9

 Computers and electronic products4

:

 Shipments................................ 29,619 29,064 28,868 1.9 0.7 2.3 27,738 27,923 26,097 136,673 133,481 2.4

 New Orders.............................. 25,334 24,797 25,519 2.2 -2.8 7.6 24,003 23,236 21,822 118,632 111,508 6.4

 Computers and related products:

 Shipments................................ 2,167 2,139 2,263 1.3 -5.5 10.0 1,890 1,686 2,069 9,420 10,211 -7.7

 New Orders.............................. 2,098 2,226 2,294 -5.8 -3.0 10.3 1,821 1,773 2,282 9,518 10,293 -7.5

 Communications equipment:

 Shipments................................ 3,767 3,808 3,786 -1.1 0.6 4.6 3,645 3,368 3,453 17,505 17,114 2.3

 New Orders.............................. 4,070 3,827 4,127 6.3 -7.3 -1.4 3,738 3,872 3,374 20,060 20,263 -1.0

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Shipments................................ 10,394 10,445 10,449 -0.5 0.0 -1.2 10,376 10,252 10,568 50,861 50,290 1.1

 New Orders.............................. 10,400 10,442 10,684 -0.4 -2.3 0.8 10,494 10,263 10,724 51,746 52,042 -0.6

 Transportation equipment: 

 Shipments................................ 76,747 77,455 77,839 -0.9 -0.5 4.6 76,399 77,151 72,632 375,555 349,028 7.6

 New Orders.............................. 71,666 76,579 79,792 -6.4 -4.0 15.1 65,667 70,411 72,618 348,770 363,454 -4.0

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Shipments................................ 50,819 50,756 51,212 0.1 -0.9 6.0 51,448 52,351 48,786 250,416 230,709 8.5

 New Orders.............................. 50,873 50,895 50,679 0.0 0.4 4.5 51,353 51,993 48,835 250,343 231,636 8.1

 Nondefense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 14,173 14,851 14,380 -4.6 3.3 0.2 13,100 13,449 10,806 66,405 55,398 19.9

 New Orders.............................. 9,795 15,143 16,956 -35.3 -10.7 40.1 5,000 8,744 12,482 47,084 63,114 -25.4

 Defense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 4,521 4,468 4,640 1.2 -3.7 4.2 4,562 4,020 4,788 21,248 22,847 -7.0

 New Orders.............................. 4,024 4,296 4,999 -6.3 -14.1 116.1 3,161 3,588 4,230 16,769 20,385 -17.7

 All other durable goods: 

 Shipments................................ 37,967 38,222 38,143 -0.7 0.2 -0.3 38,600 38,506 38,780 185,067 178,608 3.6

 New Orders.............................. 37,978 38,094 38,238 -0.3 -0.4 -0.3 38,726 38,719 38,980 186,271 179,709 3.7

 Capital goods3

:

 Shipments................................ 88,780 89,202 88,562 -0.5 0.7 1.5 87,175 85,667 84,891 426,684 413,435 3.2

 New Orders.............................. 83,046 87,615 90,449 -5.2 -3.1 8.4 76,568 81,171 85,174 409,574 440,042 -6.9

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 79,304 79,754 78,930 -0.6 1.0 0.9 77,730 76,747 75,524 381,418 367,926 3.7

 New Orders.............................. 74,259 79,493 81,074 -6.6 -2.0 7.4 69,686 73,998 78,280 369,381 388,853 -5.0

 Excluding aircraft:

 Shipments........................... 69,494 69,297 69,068 0.3 0.3 1.0 68,699 67,311 68,744 336,812 332,540 1.3

 New Orders.......................... 68,585 68,288 68,512 0.4 -0.3 1.6 67,314 67,890 68,717 341,439 350,725 -2.6

 Defense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 9,476 9,448 9,632 0.3 -1.9 6.7 9,445 8,920 9,367 45,266 45,509 -0.5

 New Orders.............................. 8,787 8,122 9,375 8.2 -13.4 17.8 6,882 7,173 6,894 40,193 51,189 -21.5

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. 
 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

May Apr Mar Apr - Mar - Feb - May Apr May 2015/

2015 2 2015 r 2015 May 2 Apr r Mar 2015 2 2015 r 2014 2014

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 1,195,486 1,201,224 1,203,506 -0.5 -0.2 0.1 1,195,835 1,208,131 1,131,061 5.7

 Total Inventories....................... 400,555 401,391 400,745 -0.2 0.2 0.0 403,895 403,670 389,505 3.7

 Excluding transportation:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 396,716 397,373 398,779 -0.2 -0.4 -0.3 401,867 403,431 392,210 2.5

 Total Inventories....................... 270,625 271,156 270,984 -0.2 0.1 0.1 272,849 272,312 265,913 2.6

 Excluding defense:

 Unfilled Orders4

........................... 1,010,747 1,015,905 1,017,057 -0.5 -0.1 0.1 1,011,918 1,021,517 935,298 8.2

 Total Inventories....................... 373,893 374,846 374,836 -0.3 0.0 0.1 377,077 376,902 364,325 3.5

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 1,195,486 1,201,224 1,203,506 -0.5 -0.2 0.1 1,195,835 1,208,131 1,131,061 5.7

 Total Inventories....................... 326,902 327,788 327,366 -0.3 0.1 -0.2 329,896 329,818 318,415 3.6

 Primary metals:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 35,831 35,661 35,611 0.5 0.1 -1.8 36,294 36,611 36,829 -1.5

 Total Inventories....................... 37,784 37,997 38,254 -0.6 -0.7 -2.6 37,700 37,910 37,433 0.7

 Fabricated metal products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 81,928 82,137 82,564 -0.3 -0.5 -0.9 83,861 83,603 83,656 0.2

 Total Inventories....................... 49,272 49,280 49,257 0.0 0.0 -0.3 49,760 49,709 48,080 3.5

 Machinery: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 113,652 115,211 116,629 -1.4 -1.2 -1.2 114,794 116,903 118,800 -3.4

 Total Inventories....................... 67,000 67,148 67,130 -0.2 0.0 0.5 67,797 67,607 66,726 1.6

 Computers and electronic products4

:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 133,563 132,639 132,119 0.7 0.4 1.2 134,382 134,022 123,074 9.2

 Total Inventories....................... 45,923 46,019 45,660 -0.2 0.8 1.0 46,367 46,041 44,658 3.8

 Computers and related products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 2,570 2,639 2,552 -2.6 3.4 1.2 2,570 2,639 2,071 24.1

 Total Inventories....................... 3,938 3,929 3,864 0.2 1.7 -2.3 4,017 3,864 4,000 0.4

 Communications equipment:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 38,704 38,401 38,382 0.8 0.0 0.9 39,200 39,107 34,609 13.3

 Total Inventories....................... 5,805 5,774 5,777 0.5 -0.1 -0.4 5,807 5,680 6,173 -5.9

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 23,154 23,148 23,151 0.0 0.0 1.0 23,444 23,326 21,608 8.5

 Total Inventories....................... 16,603 16,674 16,649 -0.4 0.2 0.6 16,852 16,857 16,652 1.2

 Transportation equipment: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 798,770 803,851 804,727 -0.6 -0.1 0.2 793,968 804,700 738,851 7.5

 Total Inventories....................... 129,930 130,235 129,761 -0.2 0.4 -0.1 131,046 131,358 123,592 6.0

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 21,708 21,654 21,515 0.2 0.6 -2.4 21,957 22,052 19,847 10.6

 Total Inventories....................... 36,300 36,193 36,148 0.3 0.1 2.1 36,227 36,480 32,383 11.9

 Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 608,477 612,855 612,563 -0.7 0.0 0.4 604,455 612,555 543,001 11.3

 Total Inventories....................... 65,755 66,246 66,433 -0.7 -0.3 -0.4 67,005 67,001 64,917 3.2

 Defense Aircraft and parts: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 65,679 66,176 66,348 -0.8 -0.3 0.5 64,910 66,311 68,123 -4.7

 Total Inventories....................... 12,916 12,957 12,677 -0.3 2.2 -2.7 13,001 13,027 12,716 2.2

 All other durable goods: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 8,588 8,577 8,705 0.1 -1.5 1.1 9,092 8,966 8,243 10.3

 Total Inventories....................... 54,043 54,038 54,034 0.0 0.0 1.0 54,373 54,188 52,364 3.8

 Capital goods3

:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 907,643 913,377 914,964 -0.6 -0.2 0.2 907,124 917,731 849,865 6.7

 Total Inventories....................... 197,831 198,906 198,257 -0.5 0.3 -0.2 200,201 200,118 195,308 2.5

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 757,061 762,106 762,367 -0.7 0.0 0.3 756,957 765,001 687,694 10.1

 Total Inventories....................... 176,196 177,270 177,207 -0.6 0.0 0.0 178,495 178,329 175,072 2.0

 Excluding aircraft: 

 Unfilled Orders.................... 248,170 249,079 250,088 -0.4 -0.4 -0.2 250,993 252,378 239,710 4.7

 Total Inventories................... 121,528 121,815 121,678 -0.2 0.1 0.3 122,652 122,057 121,135 1.3

 Defense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 150,582 151,271 152,597 -0.5 -0.9 -0.2 150,167 152,730 162,171 -7.4

 Total Inventories....................... 21,635 21,636 21,050 0.0 2.8 -1.4 21,706 21,789 20,236 7.3

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, 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-inprocess, 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 monthto-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-to-month changes of the total operations of the reporting units in the 

M3 panel effectively represent the month-to-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: http://www.census.gov/m3. 

Benchmark notice 

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

were issued on May 14, 2015. These revisions result from benchmarking the shipments and 

inventories data to the 2012 Economic Census and the 2013 Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM) 

data on a 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) basis, as well as revised 

ASM benchmarks for prior years on a 2007 NAICS basis; incorporating the unfilled orders to 

shipments ratios obtained from the 2013/2012 and 2012/2011 Manufacturers’ Unfilled Orders 

Surveys by applying these ratios to the respective Census or 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; and updating 

the seasonally adjusted data based on the results of benchmarking and the recent annual review of the 

seasonal adjustment models. These revisions spanned the seasonally adjusted data for January 1997 

through March 2015 and the data not seasonally adjusted for January 2001 through March 2015. An 

updated Press Release contains revised monthly tables for January 2015 through March 2015 on a 

2012 NAICS basis, which will be the new basis for publishing data from the M3 Survey starting with 

the April 2015 Advance Report on Durable Goods. Please call M3 staff on (301) 763-4832 with any 

questions.