Restructuring

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Restructuring and Related Activities [Abstract]

During the third quarter of 2020, the Company’s Performance Materials segment undertook actions to discontinue production of a lower efficiency air filtration media product and, in turn, fully depreciated the supporting machinery and equipment in North America and consolidated certain product lines and began exiting underperforming facilities in Europe. These restructuring activities, which are projected to conclude in the first half of 2021, are expected to reduce operating costs, increase production efficiency, and enhance the Company’s flexibility by better aligning its manufacturing operations with the segment's customer base. Accordingly, the Company expects to record total pre-tax expenses of approximately $17.0 to $20.0 million, primarily related to severance and employee retention expenses, in connection with these restructuring activities, of which approximately $11.5 to $14.5 million are expected to result in cash expenditures. The Company incurred non-cash expenditures of approximately $5.5 million, which consisted of fully depreciating and/or amortizing long-lived assets and, to a lesser extent, writing-off inventory.

In North America, the Company decided to shut down two underperforming nonwoven manufacturing carded lines and ancillary equipment, originally acquired in 2018, that served commercial and residential HVAC markets with low to medium efficiency air filtration media. The Company experienced lower demand as a result of COVID-19, which accelerated a market shift from lower efficiency air filtration media to higher performance rated air filtration media. As a result, the Company recorded a pre-tax restructuring charge of $5.4 million, primarily due to accelerated depreciation of property, plant and equipment and other intangible assets. The Company does not anticipate incurring additional restructuring expenses related to the closure of these manufacturing Carded lines.

The Company undertook actions to consolidate global production facilities in the Sealing & Advanced Solutions business from five facilities to four, resulting in the closure of an underperforming facility in Germany. In the first quarter of 2020, the Company performed an impairment analysis of the long-lived assets and determined that the carrying value of the assets did not exceed their fair value and recorded an impairment charge of $12.4 million (see Note 5, “Impairments of Goodwill and Other Long-Lived Assets” for additional information). The closure is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2021. In addition, the Company decided to close a small volume membrane filtration production facility in the Netherlands. In the fourth quarter of 2019, the Company performed an impairment of the long-lived assets for this facility and recorded an impairment charge of $1.2 million. The assets have been fully depreciated through September 30, 2020. The closure is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2021.

As a result of the two facility closures in Europe, the Company recorded pre-tax restructuring charges of $9.6 million consisting of severance costs, legal expenses, and inventory write-offs and anticipates it could incur an additional $2.0 million to $5.0 million in restructuring expenses, primarily related to severance costs from these facility closures.

The following table summarizes the total restructuring charges by cost type:


In Thousands	Severance and Related Expenses		Facility Exit and Asset Write-Off Expenses		Total
Expense incurred during quarter ended:
September 30, 2020	$	9,484	$	5,500	$	14,984
Total pre-tax expense incurred	$	9,484	$	5,500	$	14,984

For the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2020, $15.0 million was included in restructuring expenses on the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations with $14.8 million recorded in the Performance Materials segment and $0.2 million recorded within Corporate Office expenses.

There were cash outflows of $0.2 million for the restructuring program for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020.

The following table summarizes the accrued liability balance by cost type for the restructuring actions:


In Thousands	Total
Balance as of December 31, 2019	$	—
Pre-tax restructuring expenses, excluding asset write-off expenses	9,485
Cash paid	(203)
Currency translation adjustments	(119)
Balance as of September 30, 2020	$	9,163

The above accrued liability balances were included in Other accrued liabilities on the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets.