FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016, AT 8:30 A.M. EDT 

Adriana Stoica 

Economic Indicators Division 

(301) 763-4832 

M3-1 (16)-3 

CB 16-70

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

March 2016 

New Orders 

 New orders for manufactured durable goods in March 

increased $1.8 billion or 0.8 percent to $230.7 billion, 

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

up two of the last three months, followed a 3.1 percent 

February decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders 

decreased 0.2 percent. Excluding defense, new orders 

decreased 1.0 percent. 

 

 Transportation equipment, also up two of the last three 

months, drove the increase, $2.2 billion or 2.9 percent to 

$76.0 billion. 

Shipments 

 Shipments of manufactured durable goods in March, 

down three of the last four months, decreased $1.1 

billion or 0.5 percent to $237.0 billion. This followed a 

1.0 percent February decrease. 

 Transportation equipment, also down three of the last 

four months, drove the decrease, $1.4 billion or 1.8 

percent to $77.5 billion. 

 

Unfilled Orders 

 Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in 

March, down three of the last four months, decreased 

$1.3 billion or 0.1 percent to $1,182.5 billion. This 

followed a 0.4 percent February decrease. 

 Transportation equipment, down four consecutive 

months, drove the decrease, $1.6 billion or 0.2 percent to 

$787.3 billion. 

Inventories 

 Inventories of manufactured durable goods in March, 

up following two consecutive monthly decreases, 

increased less than $0.1 billion or virtually unchanged to 

$394.1 billion. This followed a 0.3 percent February 

decrease. 

 Fabricated metal products, up following four 

consecutive monthly decreases, drove the increase, $0.2 

billion or 0.5 percent to $48.5 billion. 

Capital Goods 

 Nondefense new orders for capital goods in March 

decreased $0.8 billion or 1.1 percent to $71.6 billion. 

Shipments increased $0.2 billion or 0.3 percent to $75.1 

billion. Unfilled orders decreased $3.5 billion or 0.5 

percent to $738.9 billion. Inventories increased $0.6 

billion or 0.3 percent to $175.2 billion. 

 Defense new orders for capital goods in March 

increased $3.8 billion or 48.4 percent to $11.6 billion. 

Shipments increased less than $0.1 billion or 0.1 percent 

to $10.0 billion. Unfilled orders increased $1.6 billion 

or 1.1 percent to $150.2 billion. Inventories decreased 

$0.3 billion or 1.4 percent to $21.5 billion. 

Revised February Data 

 Revised seasonally adjusted February figures for all 

manufacturing industries were: new orders, $453.8 

billion (revised from $454.0 billion); shipments, $463.0 

billion (revised from $462.8 billion); unfilled orders, 

$1,183.8 billion (revised from $1,184.0 billion); and 

total inventories, $634.1 billion (revised from $634.3 

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, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. EDT. The Advance Report on durable goods for April is 

scheduled for release on May 26, 2016 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

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

2016 2 2016 r 2016 Mar 2 Feb r Jan 2016 2 2016 r 2015 2016 2015 2016/2015

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Shipments................................ 236,982 238,057 240,351 -0.5 -1.0 1.4 258,693 229,556 259,091 697,833 691,637 0.9

 New Orders4

.............................. 230,651 228,863 236,102 0.8 -3.1 4.3 254,024 223,136 256,285 686,279 677,135 1.4

 Excluding transportation:

 Shipments................................ 159,459 159,142 160,442 0.2 -0.8 -0.5 169,679 151,674 171,713 464,369 469,632 -1.1

 New Orders4

.............................. 154,700 155,075 157,041 -0.2 -1.3 1.4 168,352 152,989 168,748 464,687 464,443 0.1

 Excluding defense:

 Shipments................................ 224,579 225,777 228,352 -0.5 -1.1 1.8 244,383 217,885 245,388 662,431 657,911 0.7

 New Orders4

.............................. 216,671 218,776 223,831 -1.0 -2.3 3.8 236,711 213,607 241,364 649,527 646,257 0.5

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Shipments................................ 168,706 168,798 170,596 -0.1 -1.1 1.7 185,488 162,656 186,877 496,448 497,842 -0.3

 New Orders.............................. 167,426 164,426 171,276 1.8 -4.0 5.7 185,254 160,299 188,217 499,149 497,361 0.4

 Primary metals:

 Shipments................................ 19,136 19,179 19,205 -0.2 -0.1 0.0 20,371 19,132 23,123 57,871 66,685 -13.2

 New Orders.............................. 19,457 19,300 19,344 0.8 -0.2 0.6 20,818 19,791 22,573 60,138 67,370 -10.7

 Fabricated metal products:

 Shipments................................ 29,646 29,750 29,975 -0.3 -0.8 1.0 31,024 28,857 30,964 87,189 87,187 0.0

 New Orders.............................. 29,445 29,917 30,363 -1.6 -1.5 2.5 32,218 30,574 31,510 91,166 89,016 2.4

 Machinery:

 Shipments................................ 32,226 32,075 32,713 0.5 -2.0 -1.0 35,595 31,247 36,353 94,898 96,554 -1.7

 New Orders.............................. 31,661 31,499 32,628 0.5 -3.5 5.3 34,799 31,782 34,648 96,651 96,849 -0.2

 Computers and electronic products4

:

 Shipments................................ 29,676 29,510 29,819 0.6 -1.0 -0.1 32,094 26,532 31,473 84,942 81,012 4.9

 New Orders.............................. 25,123 25,274 25,500 -0.6 -0.9 0.5 29,214 23,754 29,597 74,477 71,393 4.3

 Computers and related products:

 Shipments................................ 1,740 1,859 1,940 -6.4 -4.2 5.7 2,202 1,385 2,975 4,960 5,844 -15.1

 New Orders.............................. 1,737 1,859 1,905 -6.6 -2.4 5.4 2,199 1,385 3,006 4,922 5,924 -16.9

 Communications equipment:

 Shipments................................ 3,499 3,530 3,464 -0.9 1.9 -10.9 4,011 3,132 4,403 9,891 10,492 -5.7

 New Orders.............................. 3,820 3,792 3,817 0.7 -0.7 9.7 4,713 3,823 4,935 11,805 12,450 -5.2

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Shipments................................ 9,318 9,452 9,745 -1.4 -3.0 -2.2 9,927 9,035 11,090 27,519 30,233 -9.0

 New Orders.............................. 9,516 9,815 10,176 -3.0 -3.5 0.0 10,180 9,752 11,208 29,399 30,989 -5.1

 Transportation equipment: 

 Shipments................................ 77,523 78,915 79,909 -1.8 -1.2 5.6 89,014 77,882 87,378 233,464 222,005 5.2

 New Orders.............................. 75,951 73,788 79,061 2.9 -6.7 10.6 85,672 70,147 87,537 221,592 212,692 4.2

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Shipments................................ 52,198 53,833 54,022 -3.0 -0.3 2.9 58,729 55,209 56,364 160,708 146,617 9.6

 New Orders.............................. 52,248 53,840 53,568 -3.0 0.5 2.6 58,624 55,324 55,820 160,478 146,997 9.2

 Nondefense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 13,079 13,003 14,105 0.6 -7.8 29.9 16,049 11,312 16,974 37,937 39,856 -4.8

 New Orders.............................. 9,640 10,226 13,934 -5.7 -26.6 48.7 10,255 5,939 17,618 26,276 33,340 -21.2

 Defense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 4,687 4,400 4,458 6.5 -1.3 -7.8 5,666 3,745 5,532 12,745 12,666 0.6

 New Orders.............................. 6,116 3,692 5,308 65.7 -30.4 97.7 6,831 2,913 5,274 13,957 10,020 39.3

 All other durable goods: 

 Shipments................................ 39,457 39,176 38,985 0.7 0.5 -1.5 40,668 36,871 38,710 111,950 107,961 3.7

 New Orders.............................. 39,498 39,270 39,030 0.6 0.6 -1.2 41,123 37,336 39,212 112,856 108,826 3.7

 Capital goods3

:

 Shipments................................ 85,070 84,817 86,925 0.3 -2.4 2.0 95,224 80,016 98,437 247,760 253,842 -2.4

 New Orders.............................. 83,221 80,214 88,751 3.7 -9.6 19.4 94,529 75,958 100,335 246,223 251,835 -2.2

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 75,120 74,879 77,219 0.3 -3.0 2.8 83,859 70,362 87,516 219,108 226,941 -3.5

 New Orders.............................. 71,643 72,413 78,712 -1.1 -8.0 20.7 79,512 68,167 88,153 214,937 225,697 -4.8

 Excluding aircraft:

 Shipments........................... 66,766 66,590 67,816 0.3 -1.8 -1.4 73,558 63,536 75,925 195,941 200,802 -2.4

 New Orders.......................... 66,877 66,880 68,706 0.0 -2.7 3.3 74,997 66,590 76,093 203,918 206,235 -1.1

 Defense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 9,950 9,938 9,706 0.1 2.4 -3.4 11,365 9,654 10,921 28,652 26,901 6.5

 New Orders.............................. 11,578 7,801 10,039 48.4 -22.3 9.9 15,017 7,791 12,182 31,286 26,138 19.7

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. 
 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 2016/

2016 2 2016 r 2016 Mar 2 Feb r Jan 2016 2 2016 r 2015 2015

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 1,182,514 1,183,794 1,188,166 -0.1 -0.4 0.1 1,193,951 1,194,185 1,214,421 -1.7

 Total Inventories....................... 394,120 394,117 395,390 0.0 -0.3 -0.2 392,814 396,927 399,861 -1.8

 Excluding transportation:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 395,246 394,954 394,199 0.1 0.2 0.4 400,192 397,084 402,981 -0.7

 Total Inventories....................... 262,833 262,527 263,492 0.1 -0.4 -0.5 262,092 264,442 270,259 -3.0

 Excluding defense:

 Unfilled Orders4

........................... 998,040 1,000,897 1,003,076 -0.3 -0.2 0.0 1,007,391 1,010,628 1,026,235 -1.8

 Total Inventories....................... 367,589 367,186 367,987 0.1 -0.2 -0.5 366,409 370,077 373,874 -2.0

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 1,182,514 1,183,794 1,188,166 -0.1 -0.4 0.1 1,193,951 1,194,185 1,214,421 -1.7

 Total Inventories....................... 320,009 319,840 320,938 0.1 -0.3 -0.3 318,232 321,275 326,054 -2.4

 Primary metals:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 35,242 34,921 34,800 0.9 0.3 0.4 36,391 35,944 36,867 -1.3

 Total Inventories....................... 33,212 33,227 33,581 0.0 -1.1 -2.0 32,898 33,472 38,306 -14.1

 Fabricated metal products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 82,029 82,230 82,063 -0.2 0.2 0.5 83,173 81,979 83,655 -0.6

 Total Inventories....................... 48,487 48,264 48,407 0.5 -0.3 -0.6 48,796 48,519 49,475 -1.4

 Machinery: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 107,718 108,283 108,859 -0.5 -0.5 -0.1 108,665 109,461 117,474 -7.5

 Total Inventories....................... 65,329 65,354 65,742 0.0 -0.6 -0.7 64,953 65,810 66,720 -2.6

 Computers and electronic products4

:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 138,480 137,982 137,396 0.4 0.4 0.4 139,707 138,152 132,917 5.1

 Total Inventories....................... 45,150 45,093 44,928 0.1 0.4 0.2 44,641 45,407 44,897 -0.6

 Computers and related products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 2,615 2,618 2,618 -0.1 0.0 -1.3 2,615 2,618 2,552 2.5

 Total Inventories....................... 3,597 3,540 3,549 1.6 -0.3 1.8 3,357 3,612 3,585 -6.4

 Communications equipment:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 41,174 40,853 40,591 0.8 0.6 0.9 41,726 41,024 38,603 8.1

 Total Inventories....................... 5,074 5,080 5,148 -0.1 -1.3 0.0 5,026 5,170 5,727 -12.2

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 23,122 22,924 22,561 0.9 1.6 1.9 23,473 23,220 23,315 0.7

 Total Inventories....................... 15,965 15,986 16,076 -0.1 -0.6 -0.9 15,893 16,055 16,574 -4.1

 Transportation equipment: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 787,268 788,840 793,967 -0.2 -0.6 -0.1 793,759 797,101 811,440 -2.2

 Total Inventories....................... 131,287 131,590 131,898 -0.2 -0.2 0.3 130,722 132,485 129,602 0.9

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 20,900 20,850 20,843 0.2 0.0 -2.1 21,542 21,647 22,410 -3.9

 Total Inventories....................... 35,810 35,844 36,022 -0.1 -0.5 -1.1 35,985 36,483 36,269 -0.8

 Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 601,417 604,856 607,633 -0.6 -0.5 0.0 605,798 611,592 617,260 -1.9

 Total Inventories....................... 67,963 67,900 67,657 0.1 0.4 0.1 67,454 68,281 66,197 1.9

 Defense Aircraft and parts: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 68,342 66,913 67,621 2.1 -1.0 1.3 69,206 68,041 66,743 3.7

 Total Inventories....................... 11,668 12,426 12,602 -6.1 -1.4 6.6 11,637 12,442 12,654 -8.0

 All other durable goods: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 8,655 8,614 8,520 0.5 1.1 0.5 8,783 8,328 8,753 0.3

 Total Inventories....................... 54,690 54,603 54,758 0.2 -0.3 0.3 54,911 55,179 54,287 1.1

 Capital goods3

:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 889,112 890,961 895,564 -0.2 -0.5 0.2 896,431 897,126 922,227 -2.8

 Total Inventories....................... 196,659 196,412 197,100 0.1 -0.3 0.2 194,778 196,862 196,654 -1.0

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 738,863 742,340 744,806 -0.5 -0.3 0.2 744,044 748,391 767,750 -3.1

 Total Inventories....................... 175,167 174,606 174,846 0.3 -0.1 -0.3 173,381 175,153 175,503 -1.2

 Excluding aircraft: 

 Unfilled Orders.................... 245,493 245,382 245,092 0.0 0.1 0.4 247,974 246,535 251,799 -1.5

 Total Inventories................... 118,387 118,101 118,540 0.2 -0.4 -0.6 117,040 118,508 120,197 -2.6

 Defense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 150,249 148,621 150,758 1.1 -1.4 0.2 152,387 148,735 154,477 -1.4

 Total Inventories....................... 21,492 21,806 22,254 -1.4 -2.0 4.2 21,397 21,709 21,151 1.2

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 will be 

issued on May 18, 2016. These revisions result from: 

 benchmarking the 2008-2011 Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM) shipments and inventories 

data to the revised 2012 Economic Census data on a 2007 North American Industry 

Classification System (NAICS) basis; 

 benchmarking the M3 shipments and inventories data to the 2014 ASM and revised 2013 ASM 

data, as well as the revised 2012 Economic Census data, on a 2012 NAICS basis, and ASM 

benchmarks for prior years on a 2007 NAICS basis; 

 incorporating the unfilled orders to shipments ratios obtained from the 2014/2013 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 Census or 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 1997 through March 2016 and the data 

not seasonally adjusted for January 2001 through March 2016. An updated Press Release will contain 

revised monthly tables for January 2016 through March 2016. Please call M3 staff on (301) 763-4832 

with any questions.