Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2013

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, plant and equipment consists of the following:



December 31, (dollars in thousands)	2013		2012
Land	$	21,452	$	20,168
Buildings	89,734		86,498
Machinery and equipment	459,244		449,805
Furniture and fixtures	14,468		13,662
Software	20,490		19,987
Construction in progress	17,064		21,308
Gross property, plant and equipment	622,452		611,428
Less accumulated depreciation	356,790		353,274
Net property, plant and equipment	$	265,662	$	258,154

Property, plant and equipment are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is computed using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets, generally 3 to 14 years for equipment and furnishings and 10 to 40 years for buildings and improvements. Software consists of internally developed and purchased software packages for internal use. Capitalized costs include software packages, installation, and/or certain internal labor costs. These costs are generally amortized over a five-year period. Depreciation expense was $42.8 million, $40.3 million and $40.9 million for the years 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively.

During 2013, we wrote down fixed assets within the Americas segment as a result of our decision to reduce manufacturing capacity at our Shreveport, Louisiana, manufacturing facility. A non-cash charge of $1.9 million was recorded in special charges on the Consolidated Statements of Operations to adjust certain machinery and equipment to the estimated fair market value. See note 7 for further discussion of these restructuring charges.

During 2011, we wrote down unutilized fixed assets within the Americas segment. The non-cash charge of $0.8 million was included in cost of sales on the Consolidated Statements of Operations.

In 2010, we wrote down certain after-processing equipment within the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) segment that was no longer being used in our production process. During 2011, we received a $1.0 million credit from the supplier of this equipment which was recorded in the Americas segment.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for long-lived, physical assets used in the normal conduct of business and not intended for resale. Includes, but is not limited to, accounting policies and methodology, roll forwards, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, including composite depreciation, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, useful lives and method used, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures.

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