The Company sponsors various defined contribution plans that cover certain domestic and international employees. The Company may make contributions to these plans at its discretion. The Company contributed $8.7 million, $8.4 million and $6.4 million to such plans in the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

Substantially all of the Company’s employees in Switzerland, France and Japan, as well as certain employees in Germany, are covered by Company-sponsored defined benefit pension plans. Retirement benefits are generally earned based on years of service and compensation during active employment. Eligibility is generally determined in accordance with local statutory requirements; however, the level of benefits and terms of vesting varies among plans.

The Company records pension service cost within cost of sales, selling, general and administrative, and research and development expenses while non-service related pension costs are recorded within interest and other income (expense), net in the consolidated statements of income and comprehensive income. The components of

net periodic benefit costs for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 were as follows (dollars in millions):

The Company measures its benefit obligation and the fair value of plan assets as of December 31st each year. The changes in benefit obligations and plan assets under the defined benefit pension plans, projected benefit obligation and funded status of the plans were as follows at December 31, (dollars in millions):

The accumulated benefit obligation for the defined benefit pension plans is $243.6 million and $206.9 million at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. All defined benefit pension plans have an accumulated benefit obligation and projected benefit obligation in excess of plan assets at December 31, 2019 and 2018.

The following amounts were recognized in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets for the Company’s defined benefit plans at December 31, (dollars in millions):

The following pre-tax amounts were recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income for the Company’s defined benefit plans at December 31, (dollars in millions):

The amount in accumulated other comprehensive income at December 31, 2019 expected to be recognized as amortization of net loss within net periodic benefit cost in 2020 is $4.7 million.

For the defined benefit pension plans, the Company uses a corridor approach to amortize actuarial gains and losses. Under this approach, net actuarial gains or losses in excess of ten percent of the larger of the projected benefit obligation or the fair value of plan assets are amortized over the average remaining service of active participants who are expected to receive benefits under the plans.

The range of assumptions used for defined benefit pension plans reflects the different economic environments within the various countries. The range of assumptions used to determine the net periodic benefit costs and the projected benefit obligations for the years ended December 31, are as follows:

To determine the expected long-term rate of return on pension plan assets, the Company considers current asset allocations, as well as historical and expected returns on various asset categories of plan assets. For the defined benefit pension plans, the Company applies the expected rate of return to a market-related value of assets, which stabilizes variability in assets to which the expected return is applied.

The fair value of the Company’s pension plan assets at December 31, 2019 and 2018, by asset category and by level in the fair value hierarchy, is as follows (dollars in millions):

(a)

The Company’s pension plan in France is invested in a larger fund that invests in a variety of instruments. The assets are not directly dedicated to the French pension plan. The Group BPCE Life fund invests in debt securities of foreign corporations and governments, equity securities of foreign government funds and private real estate funds.

(b)

The Company’s pension plan in Switzerland is outsourced to Swiss Life AG, an outside insurance provider. Under the insurance contract, the plan assets are invested in Swiss Life Collective BVG Foundation (the Foundation), which is an umbrella fund for which the retirement savings and interest rates are guaranteed a minimum of 1.0% for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 on the mandatory withdrawal portion, as defined by Swiss law, and 0.25% for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 on the non-mandatory portion. The Foundation utilizes plan administrators and investment managers to oversee the investment allocation process, set long-term strategic targets and monitor asset allocations. The target allocations are 75% bonds, including cash, 5% equity investments and 20% real estate and mortgages. Should the Foundation yield a return greater than the guaranteed amounts, the Company, according to Swiss law, shall receive 90% of the additional return with Swiss Life AG retaining 10%. The withdrawal benefits and interest allocations are secured at all times by Swiss Life AG.

Contributions and Estimated Future Benefit Payments

During 2020, the Company expects contributions to be consistent with 2019.The estimated future benefit payments are based on the same assumptions used to measure the Company’s benefit obligation at December 31, 2019. The following benefit payments reflect future employee service as appropriate (dollars in millions):


2020	$	2.9
2021		3.3
2022		3.9
2023		4.6
2024		5.5
2025-2028		37.1