Restructuring Charges

During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017, management initiated restructuring activities to reshape Shiloh's global footprint to be flexible to market conditions. Activities included actions such as consolidating manufacturing facilities, making geographical shifts to place production closer to customer facilities, centralizing departments, optimizing our product portfolio and capturing synergies. Management believes these strategic moves will result in a stronger and more agile organization.

During the years ended 2019 and 2018, respectively, we incurred $17,072 and $6,613 related to employee, professional, legal and other restructuring related costs. We have incurred restructuring expenses of $28,462 since initiating the restructuring activities.

Global restructuring initiatives have continued to evolve and expand across the organization. We expect to incur additional restructuring costs over the next twelve months to execute planned restructuring initiatives. Costs of planned restructuring actions will primarily include employee costs and professional fees to execute initiatives. Future restructuring actions will depend upon market conditions, customer actions and other factors.

The following table presents information about restructuring costs recorded during the fiscal years ended October 31, 2019, 2018, and 2017:



	October 31, 2019		October 31, 2018		October 31, 2017
Employee costs	$	4,573	$	3,030	$	392
Impairment of fixed assets	—		—		4,085
Professional and legal costs	8,899		1,731		270
Other	3,600		1,852		30
	$	17,072	$	6,613	$	4,777

The following tables are rollforwards of the beginning and ending liability balances related to restructuring activities which are included in the consolidated balance sheets in other accrued expenses for the fiscal years ending October 31, 2019 and October 31, 2018:



	Balance as of October 31, 2018		Restructuring Expense		Payments		Balance as of October 31, 2019
Employee costs	$	367	$	4,573	$	2,301	$	2,639
Professional and legal costs	248		8,899		7,475		1,672
Other	—		3,600		2,433		1,167
	$	615	$	17,072	$	12,209	$	5,478



	Balance as of October 31, 2017		Restructuring Expense		Payments		Balance as of October 31, 2018
Employee costs	$	65	$	3,030	$	2,728	$	367
Professional and legal costs	270		1,731		1,753		248
Other	—		1,852		1,852		—
	$	335	$	6,613	$	6,333	$	615