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FOR RELEASE AT 8:30 AM EST, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2019

MONTHLY ADVANCE REPORT ON MANUFACTURERS’ SHIPMENTS, INVENTORIES AND 

ORDERS DECEMBER 2018

Release Number: CB 19-11 M3-1 (18)-12

Data collection and processing were delayed for this indicator release due to the lapse in federal funding 

from December 22, 2018 through January 25, 2019. Processing and data quality were monitored 

throughout, and response and coverage rates were at or above normal levels for this release.

February 21, 2019 — The U.S. Census Bureau announces the December advance report on manufacturers’ 

shipments, inventories and orders:

New Orders

New orders for manufactured durable goods in December increased $3.0 billion or 1.2 percent to $254.4

billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This increase, up two consecutive months, followed a 

1.0 percent November increase. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.1 percent. Excluding 

defense, new orders increased 1.8 percent. Transportation equipment, up four of the last five months, led

the increase, $2.8 billion or 3.3 percent to $90.2 billion.

Shipments

Shipments of manufactured durable goods in December, up four of the last five months, increased $2.1

billion or 0.8 percent to $259.7 billion. This followed a 1.0 percent November increase. Transportation 

DURABLE GOODS – NEW ORDERS

DECEMBER 2018 $254.4 billion +1.2%°

NOVEMBER 2018 

(revised) $251.5 billion +1.0%°

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, February 

21, 2019.

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

% Change -4.2% 4.5% 2.7% -1.0% -0.3% 0.9% -1.2% 4.7% 0.0% -4.3% 1.0% 1.2%

-8.0%

-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%

8.0%

DURABLE GOODS NEW ORDERS 2018

Seasonally Adjusted, Month-To-Month Percentage Change

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders, 

February 21, 2019.
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equipment, also up four of the last five months, led the increase, $1.4 billion or 1.5 percent to $91.4

billion.

Unfilled Orders

Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in December, down three consecutive months, decreased

$1.1 billion or 0.1 percent to $1,180.1 billion. This followed a 0.2 percent November decrease. 

Transportation equipment, also down three consecutive months, drove the decrease, $1.2 billion or 0.1

percent to $811.1 billion.

Inventories

Inventories of manufactured durable goods in December, up twenty-three of the last twenty-four months, 

increased $0.9 billion or 0.2 percent to $414.7 billion. This followed a 0.4 percent November increase. 

Primary metals, up twenty-five of the last twenty-six months, led the increase, $0.4 billion or 1.1 percent 

to $36.6 billion. 

Capital Goods

Nondefense new orders for capital goods in December increased $2.8 billion or 3.7 percent to $77.8

billion. Shipments increased $0.4 billion or 0.5 percent to $80.0 billion. Unfilled orders decreased $2.2

billion or 0.3 percent to $708.1 billion. Inventories increased $0.5 billion or 0.3 percent to $181.5 billion. 

Defense new orders for capital goods in December decreased $1.0 billion or 7.0 percent to $13.3 billion. 

Shipments increased $0.5 billion or 4.1 percent to $12.5 billion. Unfilled orders increased $0.8 billion or 

0.5 percent to $157.1 billion. Inventories decreased $0.2 billion or 1.0 percent to $22.7 billion.

Revised November Data

Revised seasonally adjusted November figures for all manufacturing industries were: new orders, $499.9 

billion (revised from $499.2); shipments, $506.0 billion (revised from $505.1 billion); unfilled orders, 

$1,181.3 billion (revised from $1,181.5 billion) and total inventories, $681.3 billion (revised from $681.1

billion).

The U.S. Census Bureau continues to update its 2019 economic indicator release calendar in coordination

with other agencies and the Office of Management and Budget to address the impacts of the recent lapse

in federal funding. We will provide additional updated release dates as soon as they become available. 

Please visit our webpage at <www.census.gov/economic-indicators>.
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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-inprocess, 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 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 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 
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survey documentation can be found on our web site: 

<www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/how_the_data_are_collected/index.html>.

Hurricanes

For information on the impact of recent hurricanes on the compilation of this report, please see the 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on our website at: 

<https://www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/hurricanesfaqsm3.pdf>.

RESOURCES

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/>

NEW TIME SERIES

Beginning with the release of June 2018 data on July 26, 2018, historical estimates of the Monthly Advance 

Report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders are available on a seasonally adjusted basis 

as well as a not seasonally adjusted basis at: <https://www.census.gov/econ/currentdata/>. 

FRED Mobile App

Receive the latest updates on the nation’s key economic indicators by downloading 

the FRED App <https://fred.stlouisfed.org/fred-mobile/> for both Apple and 

Android devices. FRED, the signature database of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. 

Louis, now incorporates the Census Bureau’s 13 economic indicators.

Notice of Revisions and Changes Due to Updated Seasonal Adjustment Models

On May 16, 2019, monthly seasonally adjusted data for Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and 

Orders, based on the North American Industry Classification System, will be revised for January 2002 

through March 2019. There will be no accompanying press release containing revised seasonally adjusted 

data for January through March of 2019, and historical data not seasonally adjusted will be unchanged. 

These revisions to the historical seasonally adjusted data will be based on the results of the recent annual 

review of the seasonal adjustment models. Based on this review, the lists of series that are seasonally 

adjusted and not seasonally adjusted will be updated. Three unfilled orders series and one total 
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inventories series that have been adjusted will no longer be seasonally adjusted. Conversely, two stage of 

fabrication series that have not been adjusted will now be seasonally adjusted. These changes will be 

implemented on May 16, 2019 and will also be used to produce seasonally adjusted data from the

Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders Survey, beginning with the April 2019 Advance Report 

on Durable Goods scheduled for release on May 24, 2019 and the full report scheduled for release on June 

4, 2019.

###
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

Dec Nov Oct Nov ‐ Oct ‐ Sep ‐ Dec Nov Dec Change

2018 2 2018 r 2018 Dec 2 Nov r Oct 2018 2 2018 r 2017 2018 2017 2018/2017

DURABLE GOODS

   Total:               

               Shipments................................ 259,659 257,609 254,964 0.8 1.0 ‐0.3 253,468 251,586 236,127 3,017,844 2,813,550 7.3

               New Orders4

.............................. 254,445 251,471 248,945 1.2 1.0 ‐4.3 257,173 245,307 247,803 3,012,516 2,788,071 8.1

         Excluding transportation:

               Shipments................................ 168,266 167,610 167,272 0.4 0.2 0.4 163,872 161,831 156,607 1,985,208 1,855,044 7.0

               New Orders4

.............................. 164,203 164,077 164,433 0.1 ‐0.2 0.4 158,293 156,363 152,839 1,952,497 1,824,709 7.0

         Excluding defense:

               Shipments................................ 245,392 243,689 240,906 0.7 1.2 ‐0.5 237,302 236,713 221,112 2,854,520 2,663,769 7.2

               New Orders4

.............................. 239,230 234,914 234,813 1.8 0.0 ‐1.4 237,632 227,764 231,480 2,828,842 2,641,072 7.1

    Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

               Shipments................................ 180,813 179,700 177,037 0.6 1.5 ‐0.7 180,520 174,810 167,884 2,102,138 1,954,941 7.5

               New Orders.............................. 179,664 177,690 175,039 1.1 1.5 ‐6.3 187,903 173,233 183,017 2,145,112 1,976,686 8.5

    Primary metals:

               Shipments................................ 21,561 21,851 21,652 ‐1.3 0.9 ‐0.5 19,006 20,538 17,307 255,061 222,128 14.8

               New Orders.............................. 21,550 21,739 21,414 ‐0.9 1.5 ‐2.3 19,153 20,727 17,874 257,858 224,131 15.0

    Fabricated metal products:

               Shipments................................ 33,867 33,441 33,102 1.3 1.0 0.6 30,905 32,071 28,685 393,273 360,592 9.1

               New Orders.............................. 34,083 33,973 33,354 0.3 1.9 1.5 30,322 31,925 28,530 399,124 366,269 9.0

    Machinery:

               Shipments................................ 33,037 32,950 33,037 0.3 ‐0.3 1.0 33,273 30,910 32,708 391,653 369,276 6.1

               New Orders.............................. 32,649 32,784 33,421 ‐0.4 ‐1.9 0.2 31,739 30,512 32,019 393,951 374,706 5.1

    Computers and electronic products 4

:

               Shipments................................ 27,849 27,701 27,387 0.5 1.1 1.0 31,644 27,957 28,920 323,578 303,995 6.4

               New Orders.............................. 24,161 24,157 24,119 0.0 0.2 2.9 28,951 23,217 26,049 279,822 259,757 7.7

         Computers and related products:

               Shipments................................ 1,767 1,864 1,919 ‐5.2 ‐2.9 1.4 2,351 1,742 2,171 21,943 23,384 ‐6.2

               New Orders.............................. 1,763 1,923 1,948 ‐8.3 ‐1.3 0.4 2,347 1,801 2,207 22,252 23,683 ‐6.0

         Communications equipment:

               Shipments................................ 3,755 3,663 3,604 2.5 1.6 0.5 4,993 3,496 4,341 42,466 37,934 11.9

               New Orders.............................. 3,571 3,759 3,790 ‐5.0 ‐0.8 2.1 4,772 3,592 4,440 43,558 40,593 7.3

    Electrical equipment, appliances,    

       and components:                   

               Shipments................................ 11,469 11,400 11,514 0.6 ‐1.0 ‐0.7 11,099 11,163 10,570 135,715 128,317 5.8

               New Orders.............................. 11,262 11,277 11,566 ‐0.1 ‐2.5 1.0 10,858 10,946 10,633 135,677 128,701 5.4

    Transportation equipment:    

               Shipments................................ 91,393 89,999 87,692 1.5 2.6 ‐1.7 89,596 89,755 79,520 1,032,636 958,506 7.7

               New Orders.............................. 90,242 87,394 84,512 3.3 3.4 ‐12.4 98,880 88,944 94,964 1,060,019 963,362 10.0

         Motor vehicles and parts:

               Shipments................................ 62,097 60,970 60,732 1.8 0.4 0.3 54,976 60,512 49,224 707,019 651,914 8.5

               New Orders.............................. 62,380 61,085 60,842 2.1 0.4 0.4 56,299 60,996 50,312 708,205 653,939 8.3

         Nondefense aircraft and parts:

               Shipments................................ 15,053 15,037 12,822 0.1 17.3 ‐13.3 19,089 14,847 15,622 162,666 155,730 4.5

               New Orders.............................. 12,819 9,980 9,546 28.4 4.5 ‐28.7 24,276 10,727 27,811 167,748 161,128 4.1

         Defense aircraft and parts:

               Shipments................................ 4,669 4,507 4,733 3.6 ‐4.8 ‐0.7 5,576 4,758 5,671 54,644 53,025 3.1

               New Orders.............................. 4,642 6,682 5,181 ‐30.5 29.0 ‐55.3 6,529 7,197 7,920 64,339 53,723 19.8

    All other durable goods:           

               Shipments................................ 40,483 40,267 40,580 0.5 ‐0.8 0.0 37,945 39,192 38,417 485,928 470,736 3.2

               New Orders.............................. 40,498 40,147 40,559 0.9 ‐1.0 ‐0.4 37,270 39,036 37,734 486,065 471,145 3.2

    Capital goods3

:

               Shipments................................ 92,469 91,607 89,776 0.9 2.0 ‐1.3 101,839 89,658 93,995 1,068,644 994,587 7.4

               New Orders.............................. 91,128 89,369 86,865 2.0 2.9 ‐5.9 107,898 87,462 103,092 1,086,687 1,004,966 8.1

           Nondefense capital goods:

               Shipments................................ 79,990 79,617 77,696 0.5 2.5 ‐1.9 87,922 76,734 81,712 928,939 870,046 6.8

               New Orders.............................. 77,825 75,071 74,850 3.7 0.3 ‐4.7 90,709 72,703 88,954 935,270 882,586 6.0

                Excluding aircraft:

                    Shipments........................... 69,239 68,925 69,030 0.5 ‐0.2 0.8 73,432 66,231 70,602 816,416 766,771 6.5

                    New Orders.......................... 68,502 68,964 69,687 ‐0.7 ‐1.0 0.5 71,083 65,702 69,308 820,994 773,677 6.1

           Defense capital goods:

               Shipments................................ 12,479 11,990 12,080 4.1 ‐0.7 2.5 13,917 12,924 12,283 139,705 124,541 12.2

               New Orders.............................. 13,303 14,298 12,015 ‐7.0 19.0 ‐13.1 17,189 14,759 14,138 151,417 122,380 23.7

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.   

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) Survey, December Advance Report, February 21, 2019. 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

Dec Nov Oct Nov ‐ Oct ‐ Sep ‐ Dec Nov Dec 2018/

2018 2 2018 r 2018 Dec 2 Nov r Oct 2018 2 2018 r 2017 2017

DURABLE GOODS

   Total:                   

               Unfilled Orders 4......................... 1,180,125 1,181,274 1,183,284 ‐0.1 ‐0.2 ‐0.2 1,179,386 1,172,003 1,136,412 3.8

               Total Inventories....................... 414,720 413,852 412,079 0.2 0.4 0.2 404,231 414,168 386,307 4.6

         Excluding transportation:

               Unfilled Orders 4......................... 369,028 369,026 368,431 0.0 0.2 0.3 362,164 364,065 346,573 4.5

               Total Inventories....................... 283,548 282,506 280,949 0.4 0.6 0.2 276,611 282,396 262,112 5.5

         Excluding defense:

               Unfilled Orders 4

........................... 980,603 982,700 987,347 ‐0.2 ‐0.5 ‐0.2 978,855 974,847 956,231 2.4

               Total Inventories....................... 387,719 386,612 384,932 0.3 0.4 0.2 377,406 387,014 359,417 5.0

    Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 1,180,125 1,181,274 1,183,284 ‐0.1 ‐0.2 ‐0.2 1,179,386 1,172,003 1,136,412 3.8

               Total Inventories....................... 337,822 336,771 335,523 0.3 0.4 0.3 329,137 337,234 314,110 4.8

    Primary metals:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 31,295 31,306 31,418 0.0 ‐0.4 ‐0.8 30,675 30,528 27,878 10.0

               Total Inventories....................... 36,623 36,237 35,801 1.1 1.2 0.7 36,356 36,019 33,073 9.9

    Fabricated metal products:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 85,687 85,471 84,939 0.3 0.6 0.3 83,225 83,808 77,374 7.6

               Total Inventories....................... 54,648 54,560 54,304 0.2 0.5 0.2 53,768 54,134 49,811 7.9

    Machinery:     

               Unfilled Orders......................... 105,535 105,923 106,089 ‐0.4 ‐0.2 0.4 103,635 105,169 101,337 2.3

               Total Inventories....................... 70,193 70,069 69,774 0.2 0.4 0.2 67,872 70,932 64,651 5.0

    Computers and electronic products4

:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 117,639 117,262 116,678 0.3 0.5 0.6 117,016 116,031 112,470 4.0

               Total Inventories....................... 43,288 43,279 43,124 0.0 0.4 ‐0.9 41,689 43,469 41,369 0.8

         Computers and related products:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 2,187 2,191 2,132 ‐0.2 2.8 1.4 2,187 2,191 1,878 16.5

               Total Inventories....................... 3,804 3,737 3,658 1.8 2.2 ‐2.2 3,534 3,804 3,579 ‐1.3

         Communications equipment:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 26,430 26,614 26,518 ‐0.7 0.4 0.7 26,151 26,372 25,059 4.4

               Total Inventories....................... 5,382 5,428 5,434 ‐0.8 ‐0.1 1.0 5,135 5,581 5,041 1.9

    Electrical equipment, appliances,    

        and components:                   

               Unfilled Orders......................... 19,509 19,716 19,839 ‐1.0 ‐0.6 0.3 18,994 19,235 19,032 ‐0.2

               Total Inventories....................... 19,656 19,463 19,271 1.0 1.0 0.6 18,772 19,152 17,239 8.9

    Transportation equipment:    

               Unfilled Orders......................... 811,097 812,248 814,853 ‐0.1 ‐0.3 ‐0.4 817,222 807,938 789,839 3.5

               Total Inventories....................... 131,172 131,346 131,130 ‐0.1 0.2 0.4 127,620 131,772 124,195 2.8

         Motor vehicles and parts:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 27,408 27,125 27,010 1.0 0.4 0.4 27,693 26,370 26,507 4.5

               Total Inventories....................... 36,905 36,990 36,612 ‐0.2 1.0 0.4 35,733 36,953 34,224 4.4

         Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 593,411 595,645 600,702 ‐0.4 ‐0.8 ‐0.5 598,192 593,005 593,110 0.9

               Total Inventories....................... 66,437 66,388 66,743 0.1 ‐0.5 0.3 64,331 66,879 62,611 2.7

         Defense Aircraft and parts:       

               Unfilled Orders......................... 82,130 82,157 79,982 0.0 2.7 0.6 82,189 81,236 72,494 13.4

               Total Inventories....................... 12,915 13,237 13,216 ‐2.4 0.2 0.5 12,814 13,273 13,031 ‐1.7

    All other durable goods:           

               Unfilled Orders......................... 9,363 9,348 9,468 0.2 ‐1.3 ‐0.2 8,619 9,294 8,482 1.6

               Total Inventories....................... 59,140 58,898 58,675 0.4 0.4 0.4 58,154 58,690 55,969 3.9

    Capital goods3

:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 865,270 866,611 868,849 ‐0.2 ‐0.3 ‐0.3 867,136 861,077 849,093 2.1

               Total Inventories....................... 204,142 203,840 203,464 0.1 0.2 0.3 197,816 205,455 190,108 4.1

           Nondefense capital goods:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 708,145 710,310 714,856 ‐0.3 ‐0.6 ‐0.4 709,143 706,356 702,812 0.9

               Total Inventories....................... 181,484 180,947 180,648 0.3 0.2 0.3 175,233 182,684 167,598 4.6

                Excluding aircraft:               

                    Unfilled Orders.................... 222,568 223,305 223,266 ‐0.3 0.0 0.3 219,068 221,417 214,490 2.1

                    Total Inventories................... 126,980 126,498 125,947 0.4 0.4 0.2 122,825 127,805 117,152 4.8

           Defense capital goods:

               Unfilled Orders......................... 157,125 156,301 153,993 0.5 1.5 0.0 157,993 154,721 146,281 8.0

               Total Inventories....................... 22,658 22,893 22,816 ‐1.0 0.3 0.4 22,583 22,771 22,510 0.3

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, December Advance Report, February 21, 2019. 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>.