NAICS 334516

Overview

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the framework U.S. statistical agencies use to categorize business establishments for collecting, analyzing, and publishing economic data. Developed collaboratively by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico under the Office of Management and Budget, NAICS replaced the SIC system in 1997, and the current vintage used by federal statistical programs is NAICS 2022. ¹
NAICS 334516 covers establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing instruments and instrumentation systems used in laboratories to analyze the chemical or physical composition or concentration of samples of solid, liquid, gaseous, or composite materials. Federal agencies apply this industry definition in producing manufacturing statistics and for administrative purposes such as classification in contracting and grant programs. ²

What this NAICS covers

• Laboratory analytical instruments and instrumentation systems for chemical composition analysis of samples. ²
• Laboratory analytical instruments for determining physical properties or concentration of materials. ²
• Equipment designed to analyze solid, fluid, gaseous, or composite samples in laboratory settings. ²
• Manufacturing of electron and proton microscopes classified to laboratory analytical instruments. ³
• Integrated laboratory analytical systems (multi-module or system assemblies) principally for sample analysis. ²

Related NAICS and PSC codes

Inclusions and exclusions

• Included: Electron and proton microscopes are classified in NAICS 334516. ³
• Excluded: Instruments for monitoring and analyzing continuous samples from medical patients (NAICS 334510). ²
• Excluded: Instruments and related devices that measure, display, or control industrial process variables (NAICS 334513). ²

SBA small business size standard (manufacturing)

• For NAICS 334516, the SBA small business size standard is 1,000 employees (effective March 17, 2023). ⁴

Frequently asked questions

• What activities are included in NAICS 334516?
  Manufacturing instruments and instrumentation systems used in laboratories to analyze the chemical or physical composition or concentration of solid, liquid, gas, or composite samples. This includes standalone instruments and integrated systems whose principal function is analytical measurement. ²

• Are electron microscopes in NAICS 334516 or 333314?
  Electron and proton microscopes fall under NAICS 334516. Other optical instruments and lenses (e.g., non-electron microscopes, binoculars) are classified in NAICS 333314. ³

• How does NAICS 334516 differ from 334513 and 334510?
  334516 covers laboratory analytical instruments; 334513 covers instruments for measuring/controlling industrial process variables; 334510 covers patient-monitoring and electromedical apparatus. ²

• What is the SBA small business size standard for NAICS 334516?
  The size standard is 1,000 employees for this manufacturing industry, as published in SBA’s Table of Small Business Size Standards (effective March 17, 2023). ⁴

• Where can official data using NAICS 334516 be found for the 2022 vintage?
  Manufacturing tables for the 2022 Economic Census are organized under NAICS 2022. Users can access sector 31–33 tables for industry-level statistics and filter for this NAICS code to retrieve relevant data. ⁵

Useful resources

• G2X — NAICS 334516 overview
• Census — Implementation of the 2022 NAICS (overview of NAICS and transition timeline). ¹
• Census — NAICS 334516 industry definition (Manufacturing Sector 31–33 archive page). ²
• SBA — Table of Small Business Size Standards (effective March 17, 2023). ⁴
• Census — 2022 Economic Census, Sector 31–33 Manufacturing data tables. ⁵

References

1. U.S. Census Bureau — The Census Bureau’s Implementation of the 2022 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). https://www.census.gov/library/reference/code-lists/naics/2022/implementation-timeline.html
2. U.S. Census Bureau — NAICS Manufacturing (Sectors 31–33) definitions (includes 334516). https://www.census.gov/naics/resources/archives/sect31-33.html
3. U.S. Census Bureau — NAICS 333314 cross-references (electron/proton microscopes to 334516). https://www2.census.gov/econ2007/Reference_materials/htm%20files/333314.htm
4. U.S. Small Business Administration — Table of Small Business Size Standards (effective March 17, 2023). https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2023-06/Table%20of%20Size%20Standards_Effective%20March%2017%2C%202023%20%282%29.pdf
5. U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Economic Census, Sector 31–33 Manufacturing data tables. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census/data/tables/industry.html