Property, Plant and Equipment, net (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2015

Property, Plant and Equipment, Net [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment

As of August 31, 2015, 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):

	2015			2014
Machinery and equipment	$	662,018		$	714,636
Land and improvements	250,545			261,447
Buildings and leasehold improvements	106,804			123,869
Office equipment	50,083			50,148
ERP systems	17,340			15,056
Construction in progress	19,799			18,149
Property, plant and equipment, gross	1,106,589			1,183,305
Less: accumulated depreciation	(679,035		)	(659,872		)
Property, plant and equipment, net	$	427,554		$	523,433