Property, Plant and Equipment, net (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2013

Property, Plant and Equipment, Net [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment [Table Text Block]

As of August 31, 2013, the useful lives used for depreciation and amortization were as follows:

	Useful Life (In Years)
Machinery and equipment	3 to 40
Land improvements	3 to 35
Buildings and leasehold improvements	5 to 40
Office equipment	2 to 20
Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”) systems	11 to 17

Property, plant and equipment, net consisted of the following as of August 31 (in thousands):

	2013			2012
Machinery and equipment	$	696,776		$	671,615
Land and improvements	251,793			231,925
Buildings and leasehold improvements	114,313			91,411
Office equipment	47,995			43,240
ERP systems	15,246			15,246
Construction in progress	36,292			46,476
Property, plant and equipment, gross	1,162,415			1,099,913
Less: accumulated depreciation	(597,989		)	(535,728		)
Property, plant and equipment, net	$	564,426		$	564,185