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Concentration Risk, Labor Subject to Collective Bargaining Arrangements, Number of Collective Bargaining Agreements

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Standard Product Warranty, Coverage Period

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Amount charged to advertising expense for the period, which are expenses incurred with the objective of increasing revenue for a specified brand, product or product line.

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For an entity that discloses a concentration risk in relation to quantitative amount, which serves as the "benchmark" (or denominator) in the equation, this concept represents the concentration percentage derived from the division.

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Amount classified as property, plant and equipment attributable to disposal group held for sale or disposed of.

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Useful life of finite-lived intangible assets, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

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Amount before tax of foreign currency transaction realized and unrealized gain (loss) recognized in the income statement.

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Number of reporting units tested for impairment of goodwill. A reporting unit is an operating segment or one level below an operating segment.

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The aggregate costs incurred (1) in a planned search or critical investigation aimed at discovery of new knowledge with the hope that such knowledge will be useful in developing a new product or service, a new process or technique, or in bringing about a significant improvement to an existing product or process; or (2) to translate research findings or other knowledge into a plan or design for a new product or process or for a significant improvement to an existing product or process whether intended for sale or the entity's use, during the reporting period charged to research and development projects, including the costs of developing computer software up to the point in time of achieving technological feasibility, and costs allocated in accounting for a business combination to in-process projects deemed to have no alternative future use.

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Accounting Principles and Practices (Narratives) (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2015 Reporting_Unit Segment	Mar. 31, 2014 Reporting_Unit	Mar. 31, 2013
Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Advertising expenses	$ 2,147,000us-gaap_AdvertisingExpense	$ 2,492,000us-gaap_AdvertisingExpense	$ 2,900,000us-gaap_AdvertisingExpense
Foreign currency exchange (loss) gain	863,000	1,124,000	(45,000)
Number of segments	1cmco_NumberOfSegments
Number of reporting units	4us-gaap_NumberOfReportingUnits	5us-gaap_NumberOfReportingUnits
Percentage of LIFO inventory	35.00%us-gaap_PercentageOfLIFOInventory	40.00%us-gaap_PercentageOfLIFOInventory
Research and development costs	5,242,000us-gaap_ResearchAndDevelopmentExpense	5,470,000us-gaap_ResearchAndDevelopmentExpense	5,172,000us-gaap_ResearchAndDevelopmentExpense
Term for basic limited warranty	1 year
Building \| Other Assets
Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Building held for sale		$ 854,000
Minimum
Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Estimated useful life of intangible assets	2 years
Minimum \| Building and building equipment
Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives of property plant and equipment	15 years
Minimum \| Vehicles/Equipment
Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives of property plant and equipment	3 years
Maximum
Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Estimated useful life of intangible assets	25 years
Maximum \| Building and building equipment
Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives of property plant and equipment	40 years
Maximum \| Vehicles/Equipment
Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives of property plant and equipment	18 years
Workforce Subject to Collective Bargaining Arrangements \| Unionized Employees Concentration Risk
Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Percentage of employees	13.00%
Number of collective bargaining agreements	4