Financial Instruments and Derivative Financial Instruments (Notes)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Derivative [Line Items]

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Text Block]

Financial Instruments and Derivative Financial Instruments

Concentrations of Credit Risks:  We sell our products to gas producers, distributors and end-users across the industrial gas, hydrocarbon, chemical processing, respiratory therapy, and cryobiological storage industries in countries all over the world. Approximately 47%, 50%, and 51% of sales were to customers in foreign countries in 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. No single customer exceeded 10% of consolidated sales in 2017 and 2015. One customer exceeded 10% of consolidated sales in 2016. Total sales from this customer represented approximately $98.9 of 2016 consolidated sales and is attributable to the E&C, D&S, and BioMedical segments. Sales to our top ten customers accounted for 35%, 38% and 36% of consolidated sales in 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. Our sales to particular customers fluctuate from period to period, but the large industrial gas producer and distributor customers of ours tend to be a consistently large source of revenue for us.

We are subject to concentrations of credit risk with respect to our cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents and forward foreign currency exchange contracts. To minimize credit risk from these financial instruments, we enter into arrangements with major banks and other quality financial institutions and invest only in high-quality instruments. We do not expect any counterparties to fail to meet their obligations.

The changes in fair value with respect to our foreign currency forward contracts generated a net gain of $0.5 for the year ended December 31, 2017, a net loss of $0.8 for the year ended December 31, 2016 and a net gain of $2.7 for the year ended December 31, 2015.