Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Aug. 31, 2012	Aug. 31, 2011
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number of days used to determine short term highly liquid investments treatment as cash equivalents (in days)	90 days
Book Overdrafts	$ 38,000,000	$ 40,000,000
Allowance for Doubtful Accounts Receivable	4,000,000	6,000,000
Number of equity method investments	5	5
Equity Method Investment, Ownership Percentage	50.00%	50.00%
Retained Earnings, Undistributed Earnings from Equity Method Investees	11,000,000	11,000,000
Workers' Compensation Liability	11,000,000	10,000,000
Number Of Preferred Share Purchase Rights Per Share of Common Stock	1
Rights Expiration Date	2016-03-21
Cash, FDIC Insured Amount	250,000
Customer Issued Letters Of Credit	$ 37,000,000	$ 90,000,000
Machinery and equipment [Member]
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Useful life (in years) - Minimum	3
Useful life (in years) - Maximum	40
Land improvements [Member]
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Useful life (in years) - Minimum	3
Useful life (in years) - Maximum	35
Buildings and leasehold improvements [Member]
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Useful life (in years) - Minimum	5
Useful life (in years) - Maximum	40
Office equipment [Member]
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Useful life (in years) - Minimum	2
Useful life (in years) - Maximum	20
Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”) systems [Member]
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Useful life (in years) - Minimum	8
Useful life (in years) - Maximum	10
Minimum [Member]
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Percent Of Common Stock Required To Be Acquired To Exercise Preferred Share Purchase Rights	15.00%
Minimum [Member] | MRB [Member]
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Shipment period (in days)	30 days
Maximum [Member] | MRB [Member]
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Shipment period (in days)	60 days
Common Class A [Member]
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number Of Votes Per Share Of Common Stock	1
Number Of Shares Class B Common Stock Convertible To	1
Number of Shares of Common Stock Reserved For Class B Stock	1
Common Class B [Member]
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Number Of Votes Per Share Of Common Stock	1
Series A Preferred Stock [Member]
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Class Of Warrant Or Right Number Of Shares Conversion Rate	0.001
Class of Warrant or Right, Exercise Price of Warrants or Rights	110