Employee benefits

The Company sponsors a number of U.S. and foreign pension plans as well as other nonpension postretirement and postemployment plans to provide various benefits for its employees. These plans are described within the footnotes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in the Company’s 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K. Components of Company plan benefit expense for the periods presented are included in the tables below.

Pension



	Quarter ended
(millions)	March 31, 2018			April 1, 2017
Service cost	$	22		$	25
Interest cost	42			41
Expected return on plan assets	(92		)	(90		)
Amortization of unrecognized prior service cost	2			2
Recognized net (gain) loss	(9		)	3
Net periodic benefit cost	(35		)	(19		)
Curtailment (gain) loss	—			1
Total pension (income) expense	$	(35	)	$	(18	)

Other nonpension postretirement



	Quarter ended
(millions)	March 31, 2018			April 1, 2017
Service cost	$	5		$	5
Interest cost	9			9
Expected return on plan assets	(24		)	(24		)
Amortization of unrecognized prior service (gain)	(2		)	(2		)
Recognized net (gain) loss	—			(29		)
Net periodic benefit cost	(12		)	(41		)
Curtailment loss	—			3
Total postretirement benefit (income) expense	$	(12	)	$	(38	)

Postemployment



	Quarter ended
(millions)	March 31, 2018			April 1, 2017
Service cost	$	1		$	1
Interest cost	—			1
Recognized net (gain) loss	(1		)	1
Total postemployment benefit expense	$	—		$	3

During the quarter ended March 31, 2018, the Company recognized a gain of $9 million related to the remeasurement of a U.S. pension plan as current year distributions are expected to exceed service and interest costs resulting in settlement accounting for that particular plan. The amount of the remeasurement gain recognized during the quarter was due primarily to a favorable change in the discount rate relative to prior year end.

During the quarter ended April 1, 2017, the Company recognized curtailment losses of $1 million and $3 million within pension and nonpension postretirement plan, respectively, in conjunction with Project K restructuring activity. In addition, the Company remeasured the benefit obligation for impacted pension and nonpension postretirement plans. The remeasurement resulted in a mark-to-market loss of $3 million on a pension plan due primarily to a lower discount rate and a $29 million gain on a nonpension postretirement plan primarily due to plan asset investment returns slightly mitigated by the impact of a lower discount rate.

Company contributions to employee benefit plans are summarized as follows:



(millions)	Pension		Nonpension postretirement		Total
Quarter ended:
March 31, 2018	$	15	$	4	$	19
April 1, 2017	$	21	$	3	$	24
Full year:
Fiscal year 2018 (projected)	$	24	$	13	$	37
Fiscal year 2017 (actual)	$	31	$	13	$	44

Actual 2018 contributions could be different from current projections, as influenced by potential discretionary funding of our benefit trusts versus other competing investment priorities.

Additionally, during the first quarter of 2017, the Company recognized expense totaling $26 million related to the exit of several multi-employer plans associated with Project K restructuring activity. This amount represents management's best estimate, actual results could differ. The cash obligation is payable over a maximum 20-year period; management has not determined the actual period over which the payments will be made.