Defined Benefit Pension Plans

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

We sponsor both funded and unfunded defined benefit pension plans offering death and disability, retirement, and special termination benefits for certain of our international employees, primarily in Germany, France, Italy, Indonesia, and India. The defined benefit obligation is calculated annually by using the projected unit credit method. The measurement date for the pension plans was December 31, 2018.

Amounts recognized on the Consolidated Balance Sheets consist of:



In thousands	September 30, 2019		December 31, 2018
Assets
Plan assets in other long-term assets	$	572	$	572

Liabilities
Current portion of pension benefit obligation in wages and benefits payable	3,239		2,730
Long-term portion of pension benefit obligation	88,374		91,522

Pension benefit obligation, net	$	91,041	$	93,680

Our asset investment strategy focuses on maintaining a portfolio using primarily insurance funds, which are accounted for as investments and measured at fair value, in order to achieve our long-term investment objectives on a risk adjusted basis. Our general funding policy for these qualified pension plans is to contribute amounts sufficient to satisfy regulatory funding standards of the respective countries for each plan.

Net periodic pension benefit cost for our plans include the following components:



	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,
In thousands	2019			2018			2019			2018
Service cost	$	868		$	1,008		$	2,839		$	3,025
Interest cost	564			567			1,719			1,767
Expected return on plan assets	(151		)	(160		)	(460		)	(510		)
Settlements and other	250			—			250			—
Amortization of actuarial net loss	332			383			1,019			1,178
Amortization of unrecognized prior service costs	16			16			49			50
Net periodic benefit cost	$	1,879		$	1,814		$	5,416		$	5,510

The components of net periodic benefit cost, other than the service cost component, are included in total other income (expense) on the Consolidated Statements of Operations.