Property, Plant and Equipment, net (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2014

Property, Plant and Equipment, Net [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment

As of August 31, 2014, 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):

	2014			2013
Machinery and equipment	$	714,636		$	696,776
Land and improvements	261,447			251,793
Buildings and leasehold improvements	123,869			114,313
Office equipment	50,148			47,995
ERP systems	15,056			15,246
Construction in progress	18,149			36,292
Property, plant and equipment, gross	1,183,305			1,162,415
Less: accumulated depreciation	(659,872		)	(597,989		)
Property, plant and equipment, net	$	523,433		$	564,426