Property, Plant and Equipment, net

12 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2023

Property, Plant and Equipment, Net [Abstract]

Note 6 - Property, Plant and Equipment, net

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


	2023			2022
Machinery and equipment	$	952,480		$	875,904
Land and improvements		345,584			324,453
Buildings and leasehold improvements		169,940			148,634
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems		18,898			18,945
Office equipment and other software licenses		31,195			30,797
Construction in progress		90,939			120,419
Property, plant and equipment, gross		1,609,036			1,519,152
Less accumulated depreciation		(902,231	)		(855,032	)
Property, plant and equipment, net(1)	$	706,805		$	664,120

(1)

Property, plant and equipment, net included $21 million and $22 million as of August 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, related to the Company’s Canadian operations.

Depreciation expense for property, plant and equipment, which includes amortization expense for finance lease right-of-use assets, was $84 million, $72 million, and $58 million for the years ended August 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively. See Note 5 - Leases for additional disclosure on finance leases. Interest cost related to the construction of qualifying assets capitalized as part of the construction costs was $4 million for the year ended August 31, 2023, and $2 million for each of the years ended August 31, 2022 and 2021.