Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2013

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment

3. Property, Plant and Equipment

Property, plant and equipment as of December 31, 2013 and 2012 were as follows:

		December 31,
In thousands	Estimated Useful Lives	2013		2012
Land	—	$	2,215	$	2,164
Buildings and improvements	10 – 35 years		48,779		46,033
Machinery and equipment	5 – 25 years		166,747		156,551
Office equipment	2 – 8 years		33,649		32,939
Vehicles	3 – 6 years		561		565
Assets under capital leases:
Land	—		692		664
Buildings and improvements	10 – 35 years		6,072		5,827
			258,715		244,743
Accumulated depreciation			(183,535)		(170,306)
Accumulated amortization of capital leases			(3,078)		(2,646)
			72,102		71,791
Construction in progress			6,761		4,463
Total property, plant and equipment		$	78,863	$	76,254

Depreciation expense was $ 12.1 million in 2013, $ 12.8 million in 2012, and $ 13.6 million in 2011. On February 7, 2013, the Board of Directors of the Company approved a change in the Company’s IT software and systems strategy from a previous project, involving an ERP reimplementation, to a project involving an ERP upgrade and some additional applications software. As a result of this change in IT strategy, the Company recorded a $ 1.8 million asset impairment charge in the quarter ended December 31, 2012. The original project costs were deemed to have no future fair value, and the Board of Director’s decision was in response to conditions that existed at December 31, 2012.