Employee Benefit Plans

The Company and certain of its international subsidiaries have defined benefit pension plans. There are two types of U.S. plans. The first type of U.S. plan (Hourly Pension Plan) is a traditional defined benefit pension plan primarily for union employees. The second plan (Salaried Pension Plan) is for some salaried and non-union production employees that provides defined benefits pursuant to a cash balance feature whereby a participant accumulates a benefit comprised of a percentage of current salary that varies with years of service, interest credits and transition credits. The Company no longer allows entrants into the U.S. Salaried Pension Plan and the employees in this plan no longer continue to accrue Company contribution credits under the plan. Employees are instead eligible for a 3% annual Company retirement contribution to their 401(k) in addition to the Company’s normal 401(k) match. The non-U.S. plans generally provide pension benefits based on years of service and compensation level.

Net periodic benefit costs for the Company’s pension plans include the following components (in millions):



	Three Months Ended January 31,						Six Months Ended January 31,
	2018			2017			2018			2017
Net periodic benefit costs:
Service cost	$	2.1		$	2.0		$	4.1		$	4.1
Interest cost	3.7			3.4			7.4			6.7
Expected return on assets	(6.6		)	(6.6		)	(13.1		)	(13.2		)
Prior service cost amortization	0.2			0.2			0.3			0.4
Actuarial loss amortization	1.1			1.8			2.3			3.6
Net periodic benefit costs	$	0.5		$	0.8		$	1.0		$	1.6

The Company’s general funding policy for its pension plans is to make at least the minimum contributions as required by applicable regulations. Additionally, the Company may elect to make additional contributions up to the maximum tax deductible contribution. For the six months ended January 31, 2018, the Company made contributions of $1.4 million to its U.S. pension plans and $0.7 million to its non-U.S. pension plans. The estimated minimum funding requirement for the Company’s U.S. plans for the year ending July 31, 2018 is $3.7 million. In accordance with the Pension Protection Act of 2006, this contribution obligation may be met with existing credit balances that resulted from payments above the minimum obligation in prior years. The Company has sufficient credit balances to meet the minimum obligation for fiscal 2018. Due to favorable provisions in the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the Company is considering making additional contributions to one or both of its U.S. pension plans during fiscal 2018. The Company estimates that it will contribute an additional $0.7 million to its non-U.S. pension plans during the remainder of fiscal 2018 based upon the local government prescribed funding requirements.