Significant Accounting Policies (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Oct. 31, 2013

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Useful Lives of Property, Plant and Equipment and Depreciation

Useful lives are as follows:

Land improvements	15-25 years
Buildings	20-40 years
Machinery and equipment	3-12 years
Enterprise management systems	5-13 years

Weighted Average Useful Lives for Each Major Category of Amortizable Intangible Assets

The weighted average useful lives for each major category of amortizable intangible assets were:

Patent/technology costs	14 years
Customer relationships	18 years
Noncompete agreements	5 years
Trade names	16 years

Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss

Accumulated other comprehensive loss — Accumulated other comprehensive loss at October 31, 2013 and 2012 consisted of:

	2013			2012
Translation adjustments	$	26,699		$	26,234
Pension and postretirement benefit plan adjustments		(84,079	)		(130,460	)
	$	(57,380	)	$	(104,226	)

Reconciliation of Product Warranty Liability

Following is a reconciliation of the product warranty liability for 2013 and 2012:

	2013			2012
Balance at beginning of year	$	8,929		$	6,723
Accruals for warranties		7,891			5,430
Warranty assumed from acquisitions		947			2,252
Warranty payments		(8,356	)		(5,307	)
Currency adjustments		(2	)		(169	)
Balance at end of year	$	9,409		$	8,929