Employee Benefit Plans

6 Months Ended

Jan. 31, 2012

Employee Benefit Plans [Abstract]

Employee Benefit Plans

Note K – Employee Benefit Plans

          The Company and certain of its international subsidiaries have defined benefit pension plans for many of their hourly and salaried employees. There are two types of U.S. plans. The first type of U.S. plan is a traditional defined benefit pension plan primarily for production employees. The second is a plan for salaried workers that provides defined benefits pursuant to a cash balance feature whereby a participant accumulates a benefit comprised of a percentage of current salary that varies with years of service, interest credits, and transition credits. The international plans generally provide pension benefits based on years of service and compensation level.

          Net periodic pension costs for the Company's pension plans include the following components (thousands of dollars):

	Three Months Ended January 31,						Six Months Ended January 31,
	2012			2011			2012			2011
Net periodic cost:
Service cost	$	3,862		$	4,102		$	7,760		$	8,074
Interest cost		4,848			4,851			9,741			9,661
Expected return on assets		(7,005	)		(6,856	)		(14,058	)		(13,696	)
Transition amount amortization		54			55			111			109
Prior service cost amortization		127			112			255			228
Actuarial loss amortization		1,438			842			2,881			1,652
Net periodic benefit cost	$	3,324		$	3,106		$	6,690		$	6,028

The Company's general funding policy for its pension plans is to make at least the minimum contributions as required by applicable regulations. Additionally, the Company may elect to make additional contributions up to the maximum tax deductible contribution. For the six months ended January 31, 2012, the Company made contributions of $6.6 million to its non-U.S. pension plans and $0.3 million to its U.S. pension plans. The Company does not currently have any minimum contribution requirements for its U.S. plans, but is planning to make an additional U.S. pension contribution of $15.0 million in Fiscal 2012. The Company currently estimates that it will contribute an additional $2.7 million to its non-U.S. pension plans during the remainder of Fiscal 2012.