FOR IMMEDIATE RELEAS E 

FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2015, AT 8:30 A.M. EDT

Adriana Stoica

Economic Indicators Division

(301) 763-4832

M3-1 (15)-03

CB15-72

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

March 2015

New Orders 

 New orders for manufactured durable goods in March

increased $9.3 billion or 4.0 percent to $240.2 billion, 

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

up two of the last three months, followed a 1.4 percent

February decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders

decreased 0.2 percent. Excluding defense, new orders 

increased 2.6 percent.

 

 Transportation equipment, also up two of the last three 

months, drove the increase, $9.5 billion or 13.5 percent 

to $80.3 billion.

Shipments

 Shipments of manufactured durable goods in March, 

up following two consecutive monthly decreases,

increased $2.7 billion or 1.1 percent to $246.7 billion. 

This followed a 0.2 percent February decrease. 

 Transportation equipment, up three of the last four

months, drove the increase, $3.2 billion or 4.3 percent to 

$78.0 billion. 

 

Unfilled Orders 

 Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in 

March, up following three consecutive monthly 

decreases, increased $0.3 billion or slightly to $1,156.4

billion. This followed a 0.5 percent February decrease. 

 Transportation equipment, also up following three 

consecutive monthly decreases, drove the increase, $2.3

billion or 0.3 percent to $734.5 billion.

Inventories

 Inventories of manufactured durable goods in March, 

up twenty-three of the last twenty-four months, 

increased $0.3 billion or 0.1 percent to $412.9 billion. 

This was at the highest level since the series was first 

published on a NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 0.2

percent February increase.

 Computers and electronic products, up seven of the 

last eight months, drove the increase, $0.3 billion or 0.7

percent to $50.1 billion. 

Capital Goods

 Nondefense new orders for capital goods in March

increased $2.7 billion or 3.5 percent to $80.2 billion. 

Shipments decreased $0.3 billion or 0.4 percent to $79.7

billion. Unfilled orders increased $0.5 billion or 0.1

percent to $728.6 billion. Inventories increased $0.1

billion or 0.1 percent to $186.7 billion.

 Defense new orders for capital goods in March

increased $1.4 billion or 17.0 percent to $9.5 billion. 

Shipments increased $0.8 billion or 8.8 percent to $9.9

billion. Unfilled orders decreased $0.4 billion or 0.3

percent to $152.1 billion. Inventories decreased $0.3

billion or 1.1 percent to $24.5 billion.

Revised February Data 

 Revised seasonally adjusted February figures for all 

manufacturing industries were: new orders, $468.0

billion (revised from $468.3 billion); shipments, $481.1 

billion (revised from $481.3 billion); unfilled orders, 

$1,156.2 billion (revised from $1,156.3 billion); and 

total inventories, $650.8 billion (revised from $651.0

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 May 4, 2015, at 10:00 a.m.EDT. The Advance Report on durable goods for April is

scheduled for release on May 26, 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. The U.S. 

Census Bureau updated its Application Programming Interface (API) with monthly and quarterly economic indicators. The API all ows 

developers to combine Census Bureau statistics with other data sets to create tools for research on a variety of topics.
 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

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

2015 2 2015 r 2015 Mar 2 Feb r Jan 2015 2 2015 r 2014 2015 2014 2015/2014

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Shipments................................ 246,662 243,981 244,516 1.1 -0.2 -1.4 265,120 225,497 253,707 707,695 683,263 3.6

 New Orders4

.............................. 240,175 230,911 234,272 4.0 -1.4 1.9 259,711 217,568 255,745 686,604 685,922 0.1

 Excluding transportation:

 Shipments................................ 168,666 169,216 170,077 -0.3 -0.5 -1.5 177,602 155,116 176,708 486,952 480,965 1.2

 New Orders4

.............................. 159,917 160,174 162,227 -0.2 -1.3 -0.9 171,566 152,547 175,364 474,212 477,516 -0.7

 Excluding defense:

 Shipments................................ 234,523 232,677 233,306 0.8 -0.3 -0.8 251,283 214,956 240,161 674,281 649,023 3.9

 New Orders4

.............................. 228,119 222,394 224,652 2.6 -1.0 2.2 245,241 209,406 241,431 656,236 654,239 0.3

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Shipments................................ 173,327 172,395 173,189 0.5 -0.5 -1.1 188,041 159,845 179,785 500,544 479,603 4.4

 New Orders.............................. 173,585 166,335 169,887 4.4 -2.1 3.4 188,286 157,575 188,603 498,656 504,313 -1.1

 Primary metals:

 Shipments................................ 25,978 26,049 26,577 -0.3 -2.0 -2.7 27,185 24,934 27,312 78,115 78,280 -0.2

 New Orders.............................. 25,778 25,830 25,895 -0.2 -0.3 -1.5 27,110 25,167 28,054 78,597 80,964 -2.9

 Fabricated metal products:

 Shipments................................ 30,063 30,238 30,518 -0.6 -0.9 -1.6 30,875 28,084 30,154 87,067 84,532 3.0

 New Orders.............................. 29,213 29,341 30,173 -0.4 -2.8 -2.3 31,591 29,125 31,501 89,359 87,594 2.0

 Machinery:

 Shipments................................ 34,763 35,332 35,242 -1.6 0.3 -2.6 38,040 32,824 40,115 101,297 103,589 -2.2

 New Orders.............................. 33,410 33,919 34,771 -1.5 -2.5 -0.2 36,097 32,659 41,117 100,816 111,116 -9.3

 Computers and electronic products4

:

 Shipments................................ 29,020 28,564 28,340 1.6 0.8 -1.2 31,335 24,658 30,974 81,627 82,395 -0.9

 New Orders.............................. 22,544 21,882 22,140 3.0 -1.2 0.8 26,164 20,231 25,932 65,078 63,728 2.1

 Computers and related products:

 Shipments................................ 2,197 1,986 1,965 10.6 1.1 3.4 2,918 1,338 2,977 5,628 6,185 -9.0

 New Orders.............................. 2,249 2,027 2,008 11.0 0.9 7.6 2,970 1,379 3,001 5,764 6,018 -4.2

 Communications equipment:

 Shipments................................ 3,791 3,738 3,686 1.4 1.4 -0.8 4,434 3,226 4,373 10,684 10,870 -1.7

 New Orders.............................. 3,911 4,130 4,111 -5.3 0.5 0.0 4,642 4,119 5,282 12,204 13,107 -6.9

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Shipments................................ 10,331 10,463 10,507 -1.3 -0.4 -1.8 10,963 9,592 11,029 29,899 29,532 1.2

 New Orders.............................. 10,425 10,539 10,244 -1.1 2.9 -5.4 11,015 9,963 11,268 30,617 30,990 -1.2

 Transportation equipment: 

 Shipments................................ 77,996 74,765 74,439 4.3 0.4 -1.1 87,518 70,381 76,999 220,743 202,298 9.1

 New Orders.............................. 80,258 70,737 72,045 13.5 -1.8 8.9 88,145 65,021 80,381 212,392 208,406 1.9

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Shipments................................ 51,016 48,382 48,006 5.4 0.8 -2.8 55,860 47,015 49,212 145,927 135,549 7.7

 New Orders.............................. 50,965 48,332 48,251 5.4 0.2 -2.4 55,537 47,323 49,139 146,360 136,001 7.6

 Nondefense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 14,195 14,160 14,304 0.2 -1.0 10.4 16,844 12,133 14,101 39,290 33,003 19.0

 New Orders.............................. 16,297 12,479 12,764 30.6 -2.2 122.3 17,467 8,732 16,880 33,237 40,184 -17.3

 Defense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 4,506 4,241 3,994 6.2 6.2 -14.5 5,365 3,708 5,650 12,150 13,170 -7.7

 New Orders.............................. 5,080 2,387 3,448 112.8 -30.8 -11.6 5,579 1,550 4,774 10,216 12,188 -16.2

 All other durable goods: 

 Shipments................................ 38,511 38,570 38,893 -0.2 -0.8 0.4 39,204 35,024 37,124 108,947 102,637 6.1

 New Orders.............................. 38,547 38,663 39,004 -0.3 -0.9 0.4 39,589 35,402 37,492 109,745 103,124 6.4

 Capital goods3

:

 Shipments................................ 89,643 89,151 89,146 0.6 0.0 -0.9 100,204 81,330 96,587 256,210 246,471 4.0

 New Orders.............................. 89,673 85,588 86,723 4.8 -1.3 7.1 100,230 80,191 102,659 252,493 258,355 -2.3

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 79,740 80,050 80,098 -0.4 -0.1 0.8 88,892 72,658 85,825 228,911 218,621 4.7

 New Orders.............................. 80,213 77,504 79,214 3.5 -2.2 8.5 88,198 71,593 90,839 226,327 232,453 -2.6

 Excluding aircraft:

 Shipments........................... 69,611 69,889 69,789 -0.4 0.1 -0.6 76,903 64,195 75,814 201,874 196,493 2.7

 New Orders.......................... 68,189 68,537 70,062 -0.5 -2.2 -0.3 75,772 66,090 79,385 205,517 209,319 -1.8

 Defense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 9,903 9,101 9,048 8.8 0.6 -13.6 11,312 8,672 10,762 27,299 27,850 -2.0

 New Orders.............................. 9,460 8,084 7,509 17.0 7.7 -6.3 12,032 8,598 11,820 26,166 25,902 1.0

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

Mar Feb Jan Feb - Jan - Dec - Mar Feb Mar 2015/

2015 2 2015 r 2015 Mar 2 Feb r Jan 2015 2 2015 r 2014 2014

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 1,156,447 1,156,189 1,162,249 0.0 -0.5 -0.3 1,165,955 1,165,710 1,084,988 7.5

 Total Inventories....................... 412,905 412,639 411,790 0.1 0.2 0.3 411,057 415,806 391,674 4.9

 Excluding transportation:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 421,946 423,950 425,982 -0.5 -0.5 -0.2 425,939 426,321 412,439 3.3

 Total Inventories....................... 277,824 277,423 277,589 0.1 -0.1 0.2 276,613 279,746 266,275 3.9

 Excluding defense:

 Unfilled Orders4

........................... 974,272 973,931 977,204 0.0 -0.3 -0.2 982,727 983,115 896,641 9.6

 Total Inventories....................... 383,022 382,432 382,183 0.2 0.1 0.3 380,997 385,394 362,349 5.1

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 1,156,447 1,156,189 1,162,249 0.0 -0.5 -0.3 1,165,955 1,165,710 1,084,988 7.5

 Total Inventories....................... 338,661 339,125 338,265 -0.1 0.3 0.3 336,528 341,115 320,479 5.0

 Primary metals:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 38,217 38,417 38,636 -0.5 -0.6 -1.7 39,356 39,431 38,737 1.6

 Total Inventories....................... 37,567 38,220 38,943 -1.7 -1.9 0.8 37,499 38,681 35,714 5.0

 Fabricated metal products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 85,708 86,558 87,455 -1.0 -1.0 -0.4 87,143 86,427 86,859 0.3

 Total Inventories....................... 51,199 51,109 51,138 0.2 -0.1 0.7 51,243 51,320 48,880 4.8

 Machinery: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 114,899 116,252 117,665 -1.2 -1.2 -0.4 115,363 117,306 115,274 0.1

 Total Inventories....................... 67,560 67,412 67,335 0.2 0.1 -0.4 67,148 68,004 65,636 2.3

 Computers and electronic products4

:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 148,824 148,555 148,227 0.2 0.2 0.5 149,397 148,914 140,355 6.4

 Total Inventories....................... 50,111 49,783 49,417 0.7 0.7 0.4 49,259 50,145 47,033 4.7

 Computers and related products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 4,330 4,278 4,237 1.2 1.0 1.0 4,330 4,278 3,222 34.4

 Total Inventories....................... 4,581 4,705 4,768 -2.6 -1.3 0.6 4,229 4,797 4,397 -3.8

 Communications equipment:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 40,484 40,364 39,972 0.3 1.0 1.1 40,789 40,581 37,764 8.0

 Total Inventories....................... 7,348 7,284 7,268 0.9 0.2 0.4 7,281 7,415 7,723 -5.7

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 25,831 25,737 25,661 0.4 0.3 -1.0 26,120 26,068 23,748 10.0

 Total Inventories....................... 16,785 16,706 16,668 0.5 0.2 0.2 16,726 16,859 16,527 1.2

 Transportation equipment: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 734,501 732,239 736,267 0.3 -0.5 -0.3 740,016 739,389 672,549 10.0

 Total Inventories....................... 135,081 135,216 134,201 -0.1 0.8 0.4 134,444 136,060 125,399 7.2

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 17,952 18,003 18,053 -0.3 -0.3 1.4 18,469 18,792 16,968 8.8

 Total Inventories....................... 29,138 28,597 28,042 1.9 2.0 1.4 29,092 29,086 26,012 11.8

 Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 567,303 565,201 566,882 0.4 -0.3 -0.3 571,765 571,142 502,889 13.7

 Total Inventories....................... 75,720 75,742 76,000 0.0 -0.3 0.1 75,061 75,926 69,811 7.5

 Defense Aircraft and parts: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 60,888 60,314 62,168 1.0 -3.0 -0.9 61,386 61,172 63,529 -3.4

 Total Inventories....................... 14,265 14,618 14,528 -2.4 0.6 2.7 14,265 14,667 14,145 0.8

 All other durable goods: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 8,467 8,431 8,338 0.4 1.1 1.3 8,560 8,175 7,466 14.7

 Total Inventories....................... 54,602 54,193 54,088 0.8 0.2 0.0 54,738 54,737 52,485 4.3

 Capital goods3

:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 880,680 880,650 884,213 0.0 -0.4 -0.3 887,205 887,179 816,329 8.7

 Total Inventories....................... 211,238 211,384 210,630 -0.1 0.4 -0.1 209,349 212,380 200,858 4.2

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 728,588 728,115 730,661 0.1 -0.3 -0.1 734,056 734,750 657,703 11.6

 Total Inventories....................... 186,693 186,567 186,486 0.1 0.0 -0.1 184,627 187,407 176,775 4.4

 Excluding aircraft: 

 Unfilled Orders.................... 251,275 252,697 254,049 -0.6 -0.5 0.1 252,886 254,017 241,471 4.7

 Total Inventories................... 122,961 122,715 122,386 0.2 0.3 -0.3 121,458 123,509 119,081 2.0

 Defense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 152,092 152,535 153,552 -0.3 -0.7 -1.0 153,149 152,429 158,626 -3.5

 Total Inventories....................... 24,545 24,817 24,144 -1.1 2.8 0.4 24,722 24,973 24,083 2.7

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, 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 month-tomonth 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 will 

be 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 will span 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 will contain 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.