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FOR RELEASE AT 8:30 AM EDT, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018 

MONTHLY ADVANCE REPORT ON MANUFACTURERS’ SHIPMENTS, 

INVENTORIES AND ORDERS FEBRUARY 2018 

Release Number: CB 18-44 M3-1 (18)-02 

March 23, 2018 — The U.S. Census Bureau announces the February advance report on manufacturers’ 

shipments, inventories and orders: 

New Orders 

New orders for manufactured durable goods in February increased $7.4 billion or 3.1 percent to $247.7 

billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This increase, up three of the last four months, followed 

a 3.5 percent January decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 1.2 percent. Excluding 

defense, new orders increased 2.5 percent. Transportation equipment, also up three of the last four months, 

led the increase, $5.5 billion or 7.1 percent to $83.5 billion. 

Shipments 

Shipments of manufactured durable goods in February, up nine of the last ten months, increased $2.2 billion 

or 0.9 percent to $249.7 billion. This followed a 0.5 percent January increase. Machinery, up six of the last 

seven months, led the increase, $0.6 billion or 1.8 percent to $33.4 billion. 

Unfilled Orders 

Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in February, up five of the last six months, increased $2.3 

billion or 0.2 percent to $1,143.3 billion. This followed a 0.3 percent January decrease. Transportation 

equipment, up two of the last three months, led the increase, $1.4 billion or 0.2 percent to $773.2 billion. 

DURABLE GOODS – NEW ORDERS

FEBRUARY 2018 $247.7 billion             +3.1%°   

JANUARY 2018  

(revised) $240.3 billion             ‐3.5%°

Next release: April 26, 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, 

March 23, 2018.

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

% Change 2.4% -0.8% 0.0% 6.4% -6.8% 2.1% 2.4% -0.4% 1.7% 2.7% -3.5% 3.1%

-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,

March 23,  2018.
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Inventories 

Inventories of manufactured durable goods in February, up nineteen of the last twenty months, increased 

$1.6 billion or 0.4 percent to $410.6 billion. This followed a 0.4 percent January increase. Transportation 

equipment, up three consecutive months, led the increase, $0.7 billion or 0.6 percent to $132.7 billion. 

Capital Goods 

Nondefense new orders for capital goods in February increased $3.3 billion or 4.5 percent to $77.4 billion. 

Shipments increased $0.9 billion or 1.2 percent to $75.3 billion. Unfilled orders increased $2.1 billion or 

0.3 percent to $708.6 billion. Inventories increased $1.0 billion or 0.6 percent to $183.1 billion. Defense 

new orders for capital goods in February increased $1.5 billion or 16.5 percent to $10.7 billion. Shipments 

decreased $0.4 billion or 3.6 percent to $11.1 billion. Unfilled orders decreased $0.4 billion or 0.3 percent 

to $140.6 billion. Inventories increased less than $0.1 billion or 0.2 percent to $23.2 billion. 

Revised January Data

Revised seasonally adjusted January figures for all manufacturing industries were: new orders, $491.9 

billion (revised from $491.7 billion); shipments, $499.2 billion (revised from $498.8); unfilled orders, 

$1,141.0 billion (revised from $1,141.2 billion) and total inventories, $672.6 billion (revised from $672.4 

billion). 

Revised and more detailed estimates, plus nondurable goods data, will be published on April 4, 2018, at 

10:00 a.m. EDT. The Advance Report on durable goods for March is scheduled for release on April 26, 

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 

units that represent approximately 3,100 companies and provide an indication of month-to-month change for 
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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/> 

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; 
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• 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

Feb Jan Dec Jan - Dec- Nov - Feb Jan Feb Change

2018 22018 r 2017 Feb 2 Jan r Dec 2018 22018 r 2017 2018 2017 2018/2017

DURABLE GOODS

 Total:

 Shipments................................ 249,706 247,548 246,421 0.9 0.5 0.5 233,854 225,105 217,742 458,959 425,652 7.8

 New Orders4.............................. 247,718 240,269 249,067 3.1 -3.5 2.7 235,013 220,256 215,355 455,269 417,477 9.1

 Excluding transportation:

 Shipments................................ 167,605 165,946 165,511 1.0 0.3 1.0 154,756 153,104 143,121 307,860 283,994 8.4

 New Orders4.............................. 164,224 162,279 162,596 1.2 -0.2 0.8 156,055 153,158 144,652 309,213 285,019 8.5

 Excluding defense:

 Shipments................................ 236,493 233,952 233,182 1.1 0.3 0.4 221,385 214,125 206,027 435,510 404,550 7.7

 New Orders4.............................. 235,034 229,311 235,191 2.5 -2.5 2.2 223,723 211,436 206,522 435,159 398,768 9.1

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Shipments................................ 176,160 174,892 173,817 0.7 0.6 0.5 164,322 157,907 152,633 322,229 296,789 8.6

 New Orders.............................. 178,410 171,811 180,630 3.8 -4.9 3.6 168,992 158,497 153,838 327,489 298,586 9.7

 Primary metals:

 Shipments................................ 21,332 20,904 20,690 2.0 1.0 2.4 20,601 20,870 18,196 41,471 36,655 13.1

 New Orders.............................. 21,532 20,961 20,905 2.7 0.3 1.4 21,516 21,568 18,996 43,084 37,908 13.7

 Fabricated metal products:

 Shipments................................ 34,038 33,758 33,362 0.8 1.2 1.2 31,772 31,826 29,041 63,598 57,625 10.4

 New Orders.............................. 34,524 34,260 34,012 0.8 0.7 1.9 33,467 33,287 29,781 66,754 59,471 12.2

 Machinery:

 Shipments................................ 33,393 32,796 32,753 1.8 0.1 0.7 31,668 29,351 28,619 61,019 55,030 10.9

 New Orders.............................. 33,667 33,128 33,073 1.6 0.2 0.6 32,866 31,744 29,957 64,610 58,825 9.8

 Computers and electronic products4:

 Shipments................................ 28,201 28,209 28,001 0.0 0.7 0.2 24,520 25,629 23,020 50,149 47,623 5.3

 New Orders.............................. 23,884 23,938 23,981 -0.2 -0.2 0.2 21,340 20,654 20,504 41,994 39,583 6.1

 Computers and related products:

 Shipments................................ 1,888 1,924 1,782 -1.9 8.0 -5.7 1,354 1,471 1,489 2,825 3,005 -6.0

 New Orders.............................. 1,911 1,932 1,816 -1.1 6.4 -4.9 1,377 1,479 1,548 2,856 3,070 -7.0

 

 Communications equipment:

 Shipments................................ 3,240 3,278 3,284 -1.2 -0.2 2.8 2,652 2,602 2,433 5,254 4,759 10.4

 New Orders.............................. 3,054 3,334 3,281 -8.4 1.6 -2.6 2,966 2,719 3,335 5,685 5,955 -4.5

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Shipments................................ 10,407 10,306 10,228 1.0 0.8 0.6 9,540 9,302 9,142 18,842 17,947 5.0

 New Orders.............................. 10,339 10,081 10,075 2.6 0.1 -2.8 9,904 9,627 9,778 19,531 19,285 1.3

 Transportation equipment: 

 Shipments................................ 82,101 81,602 80,910 0.6 0.9 -0.6 79,098 72,001 74,621 151,099 141,658 6.7

 New Orders.............................. 83,494 77,990 86,471 7.1 -9.8 6.6 78,958 67,098 70,703 146,056 132,458 10.3

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Shipments................................ 57,353 56,578 56,139 1.4 0.8 0.0 57,264 52,373 53,298 109,637 101,945 7.5

 New Orders.............................. 57,463 56,577 56,509 1.6 0.1 0.1 57,901 52,535 54,065 110,436 102,911 7.3

 

 Nondefense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 11,440 11,428 11,371 0.1 0.5 -5.5 9,491 8,786 9,431 18,277 18,294 -0.1

 New Orders.............................. 13,113 10,448 14,486 25.5 -27.9 16.1 9,760 5,833 7,442 15,593 10,585 47.3

 Defense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 4,307 4,236 4,233 1.7 0.1 1.1 3,736 3,105 3,428 6,841 6,037 13.3

 New Orders.............................. 3,563 2,588 5,069 37.7 -48.9 47.8 2,335 2,440 2,655 4,775 6,402 -25.4

 All other durable goods: 

 Shipments................................ 40,234 39,973 40,477 0.7 -1.2 1.0 36,655 36,126 35,103 72,781 69,114 5.3

 New Orders.............................. 40,278 39,911 40,550 0.9 -1.6 0.9 36,962 36,278 35,636 73,240 69,947 4.7

 Capital goods3:

 Shipments................................ 86,413 85,920 85,560 0.6 0.4 -0.1 79,117 74,239 72,877 153,356 140,016 9.5

 New Orders.............................. 88,049 83,193 87,328 5.8 -4.7 1.7 80,752 71,923 71,317 152,675 137,003 11.4

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 75,311 74,408 74,389 1.2 0.0 -0.2 68,416 64,871 62,798 133,287 121,971 9.3

 New Orders.............................. 77,369 74,028 74,876 4.5 -1.1 -0.3 71,148 64,453 64,414 135,601 122,042 11.1

 Excluding aircraft:

 Shipments........................... 68,117 67,175 67,111 1.4 0.1 0.7 62,899 59,982 57,283 122,881 111,581 10.1

 New Orders.......................... 67,831 66,659 66,929 1.8 -0.4 -0.5 64,792 62,259 60,519 127,051 118,327 7.4

 Defense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 11,102 11,512 11,171 -3.6 3.1 0.5 10,701 9,368 10,079 20,069 18,045 11.2

 New Orders.............................. 10,680 9,165 12,452 16.5 -26.4 16.2 9,604 7,470 6,903 17,074 14,961 14.1

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, February Advance Report, March 23, 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

Feb Jan Dec Jan - Dec - Nov - Feb Jan Feb 2018/

2018 2 2018 r 2017 Feb 2Jan r Dec 2018 2 2018 r 2017 2017

DURABLE GOODS

 Total:

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 1,143,293 1,141,043 1,144,124 0.2 -0.3 0.6 1,149,879 1,145,209 1,124,539 2.3

 Total Inventories....................... 410,570 409,000 407,477 0.4 0.4 0.5 414,586 408,705 395,951 4.7

 Excluding transportation:

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 370,048 369,191 368,660 0.2 0.1 0.3 372,007 367,197 355,660 4.6

 Total Inventories....................... 277,889 277,063 276,320 0.3 0.3 0.5 280,209 276,774 265,137 5.7

 Excluding defense:

 Unfilled Orders4........................... 969,369 966,590 967,033 0.3 0.0 0.6 975,968 970,119 947,044 3.1

 Total Inventories....................... 383,209 381,670 379,947 0.4 0.5 0.5 387,174 381,583 369,539 4.8

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 1,143,293 1,141,043 1,144,124 0.2 -0.3 0.6 1,149,879 1,145,209 1,124,539 2.3

 Total Inventories....................... 334,081 332,844 331,669 0.4 0.4 0.5 336,488 331,902 321,606 4.6

 Primary metals:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 31,884 31,684 31,627 0.6 0.2 0.7 32,834 31,919 30,195 8.7

 Total Inventories....................... 34,666 34,566 34,367 0.3 0.6 0.4 34,855 34,821 32,207 8.2

 Fabricated metal products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 82,909 82,423 81,921 0.6 0.6 0.8 82,507 80,812 75,105 9.9

 Total Inventories....................... 51,642 51,439 51,186 0.4 0.5 0.6 51,826 51,393 48,450 7.0

 Machinery: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 102,660 102,386 102,054 0.3 0.3 0.3 103,872 102,674 99,444 4.5

 Total Inventories....................... 70,476 70,231 70,330 0.3 -0.1 0.5 71,076 69,960 67,338 5.6

 Computers and electronic products4:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 119,771 119,850 119,923 -0.1 -0.1 0.1 119,938 119,607 117,840 1.8

 Total Inventories....................... 45,792 45,612 45,442 0.4 0.4 0.2 46,339 45,171 44,384 4.4

 Computers and related products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 2,036 2,013 2,005 1.1 0.4 1.7 2,036 2,013 1,754 16.1

 Total Inventories....................... 4,369 4,395 4,371 -0.6 0.5 0.2 4,514 4,396 4,494 0.4

 

 Communications equipment:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 28,330 28,516 28,460 -0.7 0.2 0.0 28,562 28,248 26,969 5.9

 Total Inventories....................... 4,601 4,601 4,585 0.0 0.3 -0.1 4,704 4,563 4,684 0.4

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 22,316 22,384 22,609 -0.3 -1.0 -0.7 22,791 22,427 22,975 -0.8

 Total Inventories....................... 18,332 18,288 18,133 0.2 0.9 1.2 18,449 18,200 17,280 6.8

 Transportation equipment: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 773,245 771,852 775,464 0.2 -0.5 0.7 777,872 778,012 768,879 1.2

 Total Inventories....................... 132,681 131,937 131,157 0.6 0.6 0.5 134,377 131,931 130,814 2.7

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 24,741 24,631 24,632 0.4 0.0 1.5 25,560 24,923 23,866 7.1

 Total Inventories....................... 35,590 35,396 35,153 0.5 0.7 1.3 36,000 35,806 34,420 4.6

 

 Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 582,935 581,262 582,242 0.3 -0.2 0.5 586,535 586,266 576,070 1.8

 Total Inventories....................... 68,290 67,812 67,058 0.7 1.1 -0.2 69,558 67,646 68,234 1.9

 Defense Aircraft and parts: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 70,008 70,752 72,400 -1.1 -2.3 1.2 70,026 71,427 71,765 -2.4

 Total Inventories....................... 13,202 13,182 13,400 0.2 -1.6 0.4 13,192 13,100 12,267 7.5

 All other durable goods: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 10,508 10,464 10,526 0.4 -0.6 0.7 10,065 9,758 10,101 -0.4

 Total Inventories....................... 56,981 56,927 56,862 0.1 0.1 0.6 57,664 57,229 55,478 3.9

 Capital goods3:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 849,120 847,484 850,211 0.2 -0.3 0.2 852,899 851,264 841,164 1.4

 Total Inventories....................... 206,292 205,237 204,386 0.5 0.4 0.4 208,152 203,823 199,866 4.1

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 708,562 706,504 706,884 0.3 -0.1 0.1 712,425 709,693 698,760 2.0

 Total Inventories....................... 183,072 182,061 181,076 0.6 0.5 0.4 184,871 180,773 177,964 3.9

 Excluding aircraft: 

 Unfilled Orders.................... 228,333 228,619 229,135 -0.1 -0.2 -0.1 229,564 227,671 226,311 1.4

 Total Inventories................... 126,110 125,671 125,521 0.3 0.1 0.6 126,799 124,654 121,502 4.4

 Defense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 140,558 140,980 143,327 -0.3 -1.6 0.9 140,474 141,571 142,404 -1.4

 Total Inventories....................... 23,220 23,176 23,310 0.2 -0.6 1.1 23,281 23,050 21,902 6.3

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, February Advance Report, March 23, 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>.