General (Policies)	3 Months Ended
Mar. 29, 2019
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
New accounting standards	Accounting Standards Recently Adopted In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), which requires lessees to recognize a right-of-use (“ROU”) asset and a lease liability for all leases with terms greater than 12 months and also requires disclosures by lessees and lessors about the amount, timing and uncertainty of cash flows arising from leases. The accounting applied by a lessor is largely unchanged from that applied under the prior standard. Subsequent to the issuance of Topic 842, the FASB clarified the guidance through several ASUs; hereinafter the collection of lease guidance is referred to as “ASC 842”. On January 1, 2019, the Company adopted ASC 842 using the modified retrospective method for all lease arrangements at the beginning of the period of adoption. Results for reporting periods beginning January 1, 2019 are presented under ASC 842, while prior period amounts were not adjusted and continue to be reported in accordance with the Company’s historic accounting under ASC 840, Leases. The standard had a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Condensed Balance Sheet but did not have a significant impact on the Company’s consolidated net earnings and cash flows. The most significant impact was the recognition of ROU assets and lease liabilities for operating leases, while the accounting for finance leases remained substantially unchanged. For leases that commenced before the effective date of ASC 842, the Company elected the permitted practical expedients to not reassess the following: (i) whether any expired or existing contracts contain leases; (ii) the lease classification for any expired or existing leases; and (iii) initial direct costs for any existing leases. The Company also elected to include leases with a term of 12 months or less in the recognized ROU assets and lease liabilities. As a result of the cumulative impact of adopting ASC 842, the Company recorded operating lease ROU assets of $971 million and operating lease liabilities of $1,012 million as of January 1, 2019, primarily related to real estate and automobile leases, based on the present value of the future lease payments on the date of adoption. Refer to Note 5 for the additional disclosures required by ASC 842. The Company determines if an arrangement is a lease at inception. For leases where the Company is the lessee, ROU assets represent the Company’s right to use an underlying asset for the lease term and lease liabilities represent an obligation to make lease payments arising from the lease. ROU assets and lease liabilities are recognized at the lease commencement date based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. As most of the Company’s leases do not provide an implicit interest rate, the Company uses its incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at commencement date in determining the present value of lease payments. The ROU asset also consists of any prepaid lease payments, lease incentives received, costs which will be incurred in exiting a lease and the amount of any asset or liability recognized on business combinations relating to favorable or unfavorable lease terms. The lease terms used to calculate the ROU asset and related lease liability include options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that the Company will exercise that option. Lease expense for operating leases is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term as an operating expense while the expense for finance leases is recognized as depreciation expense and interest expense using the accelerated interest method of recognition. The Company has lease agreements which require payments for lease and non-lease components and has elected to account for these as a single lease component. The Company leases Life Sciences, Diagnostics, and Environmental & Applied Solutions equipment to customers in both operating-type lease (“OTL”) and sales-type lease (“STL”) arrangements. Equipment lease revenue for OTL agreements is recognized on a straight-line basis over the life of the lease, and the costs of customer-leased equipment is recorded within property, plant and equipment, net in the accompanying Consolidated Condensed Balance Sheets and depreciated over the equipment’s estimated useful life. Depreciation expense associated with the leased equipment under OTL arrangements is reflected in cost of sales in the accompanying Consolidated Condensed Statements of Earnings. The OTLs are generally not cancellable until after an initial term and may or may not require the customer to purchase a minimum number of consumables or tests throughout the contract term. Certain of the Company’s lease contracts are customized for larger customers and often result in complex terms and conditions that typically require significant judgment in applying the criteria used to evaluate whether the arrangement should be considered an OTL or an STL. An STL results in earlier recognition of equipment revenue as compared to an OTL. Some of the Company’s leases include a purchase option for the customer to purchase the leased asset at the end of the lease arrangement for a purchase price equal to the asset’s fair market value at the time of the purchase. The Company manages its risk on the unguaranteed residual asset for leased equipment through the pricing and term of the leases. In certain geographies, equipment coming off OTL and STL arrangements after the initial lease term may be leased to other customers or used for spare parts. For lease arrangements with lease and non-lease components where the Company is the lessor, the Company allocates the contract’s transaction price to the lease and non-lease components on a relative standalone selling price basis using the Company’s best estimate of the standalone selling price of each distinct product or service in the contract. The primary method used to estimate standalone selling price is the price observed in standalone sales to customers; however, when prices in standalone sales are not available the Company may use third-party pricing for similar products or services or estimate the standalone selling price. Allocation of the transaction price is determined at the inception of the lease arrangement. The Company’s leases primarily consist of leases with fixed lease payments. For those leases with variable lease payments, the variable lease payment is typically based upon use of the leased equipment or the purchase of consumables used with the leased equipment. In August 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-12, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities, which expands and refines hedge accounting for both financial and non-financial risk components, aligns the recognition and presentation of the effects of hedging instruments and hedge items in the financial statements and includes certain targeted improvements to ease the application of current guidance related to the assessment of hedge effectiveness. The ASU is effective for public entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018. In January 2019, the Company entered into approximately $1.9 billion of cross-currency swap derivative contracts to hedge its net investment in foreign operations against adverse changes in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the Danish kroner, Japanese yen, euro and the Swiss franc. Refer to Note 9 for additional disclosures about the Company’s hedging activities. Except for the above accounting policy for leases that was updated as a result of adopting ASC 842, there have been no changes to the Company’s significant accounting policies described in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 that have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Condensed Financial Statements and the related Notes. Accounting Standards Not Yet Adopted In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, which amends the impairment model by requiring entities to use a forward-looking approach based on expected losses rather than incurred losses to estimate credit losses on certain types of financial instruments, including trade receivables. This may result in the earlier recognition of allowances for losses. The ASU is effective for public entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. In November 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-19, Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments—Credit Losses, which provided additional implementation guidance on the previously issued ASU. Management has not yet completed its assessment of the impact of the new standard on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. Currently, the Company believes that the most notable impact of this ASU will relate to its processes around the assessment of the adequacy of its allowance for doubtful accounts on trade accounts receivable and the recognition of credit losses. In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-13, Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820), which modifies the disclosures on fair value measurements by removing the requirement to disclose the amount and reasons for transfers between Level 1 and Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy and the policy for timing of such transfers. The ASU expands the disclosure requirements for Level 3 fair value measurements, primarily focused on changes in unrealized gains and losses included in other comprehensive income (loss). The ASU is effective for public entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. Management has not yet completed its assessment of the impact of the new standard on the Company’s financial statements. In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-14, Disclosure Framework—Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Defined Benefit Plans, which amends ASC 715 to add, remove, and clarify disclosure requirements related to defined benefit pension and other postretirement plans. The ASU is effective for public entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, with early adoption permitted. Management has not yet completed its assessment of the impact of the new standard on the Company’s financial statements.

Accounting Standards Recently Adopted

In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), which requires lessees to recognize a right-of-use (“ROU”) asset and a lease liability for all leases with terms greater than 12 months and also requires disclosures by lessees and lessors about the amount, timing and uncertainty of cash flows arising from leases. The accounting applied by a lessor is largely unchanged from that applied under the prior standard. Subsequent to the issuance of Topic 842, the FASB clarified the guidance through several ASUs; hereinafter the collection of lease guidance is referred to as “ASC 842”.

On January 1, 2019, the Company adopted ASC 842 using the modified retrospective method for all lease arrangements at the beginning of the period of adoption. Results for reporting periods beginning January 1, 2019 are presented under ASC 842, while prior period amounts were not adjusted and continue to be reported in accordance with the Company’s historic accounting under ASC 840, Leases. The standard had a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Condensed Balance Sheet but did not have a significant impact on the Company’s consolidated net earnings and cash flows. The most significant impact was the recognition of ROU assets and lease liabilities for operating leases, while the accounting for finance leases remained substantially unchanged. For leases that commenced before the effective date of ASC 842, the Company elected the permitted practical expedients to not reassess the following: (i) whether any expired or existing contracts contain leases; (ii) the lease classification for any expired or existing leases; and (iii) initial direct costs for any existing leases. The Company also elected to include leases with a term of 12 months or less in the recognized ROU assets and lease liabilities.

As a result of the cumulative impact of adopting ASC 842, the Company recorded operating lease ROU assets of $971 million and operating lease liabilities of $1,012 million as of January 1, 2019, primarily related to real estate and automobile leases, based on the present value of the future lease payments on the date of adoption. Refer to Note 5 for the additional disclosures required by ASC 842.

The Company determines if an arrangement is a lease at inception. For leases where the Company is the lessee, ROU assets represent the Company’s right to use an underlying asset for the lease term and lease liabilities represent an obligation to make lease payments arising from the lease. ROU assets and lease liabilities are recognized at the lease commencement date based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. As most of the Company’s leases do not provide an implicit interest rate, the Company uses its incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at commencement date in determining the present value of lease payments. The ROU asset also consists of any prepaid lease payments, lease incentives received, costs which will be incurred in exiting a lease and the amount of any asset or liability recognized on business combinations relating to favorable or unfavorable lease terms. The lease terms used to calculate the ROU asset and related lease liability include options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that the Company will exercise that option. Lease expense for operating leases is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term as an operating expense while the expense for finance leases is recognized as depreciation expense and interest expense using the accelerated interest method of recognition. The Company has lease agreements which require payments for lease and non-lease components and has elected to account for these as a single lease component.

The Company leases Life Sciences, Diagnostics, and Environmental & Applied Solutions equipment to customers in both operating-type lease (“OTL”) and sales-type lease (“STL”) arrangements. Equipment lease revenue for OTL agreements is recognized on a straight-line basis over the life of the lease, and the costs of customer-leased equipment is recorded within property, plant and equipment, net in the accompanying Consolidated Condensed Balance Sheets and depreciated over the equipment’s estimated useful life. Depreciation expense associated with the leased equipment under OTL arrangements is reflected in cost of sales in the accompanying Consolidated Condensed Statements of Earnings. The OTLs are generally not cancellable until after an initial term and may or may not require the customer to purchase a minimum number of consumables or tests throughout the contract term. Certain of the Company’s lease contracts are customized for larger customers and often result in complex terms and conditions that typically require significant judgment in applying the criteria used to evaluate whether the arrangement should be considered an OTL or an STL. An STL results in earlier recognition of equipment revenue as compared to an OTL. Some of the Company’s leases include a purchase option for the customer to purchase the leased asset at the end of the lease arrangement for a purchase price equal to the asset’s fair market value at the time of the purchase. The Company manages its risk on the unguaranteed residual asset for leased equipment through the pricing and term of the leases. In certain geographies, equipment coming off OTL and STL arrangements after the initial lease term may be leased to other customers or used for spare parts.

For lease arrangements with lease and non-lease components where the Company is the lessor, the Company allocates the contract’s transaction price to the lease and non-lease components on a relative standalone selling price basis using the Company’s best estimate of the standalone selling price of each distinct product or service in the contract. The primary method used to estimate standalone selling price is the price observed in standalone sales to customers; however, when prices in standalone sales are not available the Company may use third-party pricing for similar products or services or estimate the standalone selling price. Allocation of the transaction price is determined at the inception of the lease arrangement. The Company’s leases primarily consist of leases with fixed lease payments. For those leases with variable lease payments, the variable lease payment is typically based upon use of the leased equipment or the purchase of consumables used with the leased equipment.

In August 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-12, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities, which expands and refines hedge accounting for both financial and non-financial risk components, aligns the recognition and presentation of the effects of hedging instruments and hedge items in the financial statements and includes certain targeted improvements to ease the application of current guidance related to the assessment of hedge effectiveness. The ASU is effective for public entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018. In January 2019, the Company entered into approximately $1.9 billion of cross-currency swap derivative contracts to hedge its net investment in foreign operations against adverse changes in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the Danish kroner, Japanese yen, euro and the Swiss franc. Refer to Note 9 for additional disclosures about the Company’s hedging activities.

Except for the above accounting policy for leases that was updated as a result of adopting ASC 842, there have been no changes to the Company’s significant accounting policies described in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 that have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Condensed Financial Statements and the related Notes.

Accounting Standards Not Yet Adopted

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, which amends the impairment model by requiring entities to use a forward-looking approach based on expected losses rather than incurred losses to estimate credit losses on certain types of financial instruments, including trade receivables. This may result in the earlier recognition of allowances for losses. The ASU is effective for public entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. In November 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-19, Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments—Credit Losses, which provided additional implementation guidance on the previously issued ASU. Management has not yet completed its assessment of the impact of the new standard on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. Currently, the Company believes that the most notable impact of this ASU will relate to its processes around the assessment of the adequacy of its allowance for doubtful accounts on trade accounts receivable and the recognition of credit losses.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-13, Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820), which modifies the disclosures on fair value measurements by removing the requirement to disclose the amount and reasons for transfers between Level 1 and Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy and the policy for timing of such transfers. The ASU expands the disclosure requirements for Level 3 fair value measurements, primarily focused on changes in unrealized gains and losses included in other comprehensive income (loss). The ASU is effective for public entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. Management has not yet completed its assessment of the impact of the new standard on the Company’s financial statements.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-14, Disclosure Framework—Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Defined Benefit Plans, which amends ASC 715 to add, remove, and clarify disclosure requirements related to defined benefit pension and other postretirement plans. The ASU is effective for public entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, with early adoption permitted. Management has not yet completed its assessment of the impact of the new standard on the Company’s financial statements.