Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment

Property, Plant and Equipment

Our investment in property, plant and equipment consisted of the following at December 31:

(In thousands)	2016			2015
Land	$	11,505		$	11,613
Buildings and improvements	121,967			122,514
Machinery and equipment	248,229			224,974
Computer hardware and software	30,544			29,688
Furniture and fixtures	5,829			5,788
Construction in progress	19,417			20,950
	437,491			415,527
Less accumulated depreciation	(186,700		)	(164,818		)
	250,791			250,709
Composite mats (rental fleet)	100,543			100,341
Less accumulated depreciation - composite mats	(47,680		)	(43,418		)
	52,863			56,923
Property, plant and equipment, net	$	303,654		$	307,632

Depreciation expense was $34.6 million, $39.3 million and $33.2 million in 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. As described in Note 1, we revised our estimated useful lives and end of life residual values for composite mats included in our rental fleet as of January 1, 2016 resulting in a decrease in depreciation expense of approximately $6.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2016. Capital expenditures in 2016 included approximately $32.3 million in the Fluids Systems segment, including a total of $27.8 million related to the facility upgrade and expansion of our Fourchon, Louisiana facility, our new fluids blending facility and distribution center in Conroe, Texas, and equipment to support the contract with Total S.A. in Uruguay. Capital expenditures for the Mats and Integrated Services segment totaled $4.6 million during 2016.

In 2016, we recognized a $3.8 million non-cash charge to write-down property, plant and equipment to its estimated fair value in the Asia Pacific region of our Fluids Systems segment resulting from the continuing unfavorable industry market conditions and the deteriorating outlook for the region and a $0.5 million non-cash charge in our Fluids Systems segment to write-down property, plant and equipment associated with the wind-down of our operations in Uruguay. In 2015, we recognized a $2.6 million charge related to assets at a facility in our Fluids Systems segment following our decision to exit this facility. These charges are included in impairments and other charges in our consolidated statement of operations. We used internally developed assumptions in determining the fair values of property, plant and equipment, which are classified within level 3 of the fair value hierarchy.