Financial Information for Guarantor Subsidiaries and Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries - Supplemental Condensed Consolidating Statement of Operations and Comprehensive Income (Loss) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2018	Mar. 31, 2017
Condensed Financial Statements
Revenue	$ 811.8	$ 725.4
Cost of services, cost of product sales and cost of instant products	296.7	280.0
Selling, general and administrative	171.6	140.7
Research and development	53.8	42.4
Depreciation, amortization and impairments	188.1	165.1
Restructuring and other	52.2	9.2
Operating (loss) income	49.4	88.0
Interest expense	(154.8)	(159.4)
Loss on debt financing transactions	(93.2)	(29.7)
Other income (expense), net	3.0	17.0
Net (loss) income before equity in (loss) income of subsidiaries and income taxes	(195.6)	(84.1)
Equity in (loss) income of subsidiaries	0.0	0.0
Income tax (expense) benefit	(6.2)	(16.7)
Net (loss) income	(201.8)	(100.8)
Other comprehensive income	52.1	36.1
Comprehensive (loss) income	(149.7)	(64.7)
Reportable Legal Entities | SGI (Issuer)
Condensed Financial Statements
Revenue	129.6	118.0
Cost of services, cost of product sales and cost of instant products	86.3	82.9
Selling, general and administrative	10.9	9.5
Research and development	0.4	1.4
Depreciation, amortization and impairments	7.6	7.5
Restructuring and other	0.8	0.2
Operating (loss) income	23.6	16.5
Interest expense	(154.4)	(154.6)
Loss on debt financing transactions	(93.2)	(28.6)
Other income (expense), net	136.1	50.7
Net (loss) income before equity in (loss) income of subsidiaries and income taxes	(87.9)	(116.0)
Equity in (loss) income of subsidiaries	3.6	17.3
Income tax (expense) benefit	33.2	43.4
Net (loss) income	(51.1)	(55.3)
Other comprehensive income	(17.1)	4.0
Comprehensive (loss) income	(68.2)	(51.3)
Reportable Legal Entities | SGC (Parent)
Condensed Financial Statements
Revenue	0.0	0.0
Cost of services, cost of product sales and cost of instant products	0.0	0.0
Selling, general and administrative	37.8	29.7
Research and development	0.0	0.5
Depreciation, amortization and impairments	9.2	20.3
Restructuring and other	26.1	3.8
Operating (loss) income	(73.1)	(54.3)
Interest expense	0.0	(4.5)
Loss on debt financing transactions	0.0	(1.1)
Other income (expense), net	15.6	(20.8)
Net (loss) income before equity in (loss) income of subsidiaries and income taxes	(57.5)	(80.7)
Equity in (loss) income of subsidiaries	(83.9)	4.7
Income tax (expense) benefit	(60.4)	(24.8)
Net (loss) income	(201.8)	(100.8)
Other comprehensive income	52.1	36.1
Comprehensive (loss) income	(149.7)	(64.7)
Reportable Legal Entities | Guarantor Subsidiaries
Condensed Financial Statements
Revenue	386.9	399.8
Cost of services, cost of product sales and cost of instant products	118.4	123.7
Selling, general and administrative	57.4	48.8
Research and development	22.9	34.2
Depreciation, amortization and impairments	126.1	111.9
Restructuring and other	1.5	4.2
Operating (loss) income	60.6	77.0
Interest expense	0.0	0.0
Loss on debt financing transactions	0.0	0.0
Other income (expense), net	(132.9)	(25.5)
Net (loss) income before equity in (loss) income of subsidiaries and income taxes	(72.3)	51.5
Equity in (loss) income of subsidiaries	10.4	15.4
Income tax (expense) benefit	25.3	(20.6)
Net (loss) income	(36.6)	46.3
Other comprehensive income	22.4	21.5
Comprehensive (loss) income	(14.2)	67.8
Reportable Legal Entities | Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries
Condensed Financial Statements
Revenue	368.9	264.6
Cost of services, cost of product sales and cost of instant products	153.1	121.8
Selling, general and administrative	78.8	62.4
Research and development	30.5	6.3
Depreciation, amortization and impairments	48.4	27.8
Restructuring and other	23.8	1.0
Operating (loss) income	34.3	45.3
Interest expense	(0.4)	(0.3)
Loss on debt financing transactions	0.0	0.0
Other income (expense), net	(15.8)	12.6
Net (loss) income before equity in (loss) income of subsidiaries and income taxes	18.1	57.6
Equity in (loss) income of subsidiaries	0.0	0.0
Income tax (expense) benefit	(4.3)	(14.7)
Net (loss) income	13.8	42.9
Other comprehensive income	73.1	29.5
Comprehensive (loss) income	86.9	72.4
Eliminating Entries
Condensed Financial Statements
Revenue	(73.6)	(57.0)
Cost of services, cost of product sales and cost of instant products	(61.1)	(48.4)
Selling, general and administrative	(13.3)	(9.7)
Research and development	0.0	0.0
Depreciation, amortization and impairments	(3.2)	(2.4)
Restructuring and other	0.0	0.0
Operating (loss) income	4.0	3.5
Interest expense	0.0	0.0
Loss on debt financing transactions	0.0	0.0
Other income (expense), net	0.0	0.0
Net (loss) income before equity in (loss) income of subsidiaries and income taxes	4.0	3.5
Equity in (loss) income of subsidiaries	69.9	(37.4)
Income tax (expense) benefit	0.0	0.0
Net (loss) income	73.9	(33.9)
Other comprehensive income	(78.4)	(55.0)
Comprehensive (loss) income	$ (4.5)	$ (88.9)