Inventories - Components of Inventories (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Feb. 28, 2018	Aug. 31, 2017
Inventory [Line Items]
Manufacturing supplies and raw materials	$ 250,495	$ 222,080
Work-in-process	86,442	86,794
Finished goods	76,581	95,389
Excess and obsolete adjustment	(5,099)	(4,136)
Inventories	$ 408,419	$ 400,127

Amount of inventory reserves for last-in first-out (LIFO) and other inventory valuation methods.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 330
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66092785&loc=d3e4492-108314

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.6(b))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

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- Definition

Amount before valuation and LIFO reserves of completed merchandise or goods expected to be sold within one year or operating cycle, if longer.

+ References

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- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Amount after valuation and LIFO reserves of inventory expected to be sold, or consumed within one year or operating cycle, if longer.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.6(a))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 330
-SubTopic 10
-Section 35
-Paragraph 2
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=68049868&loc=d3e3927-108312

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82887183&loc=d3e6676-107765

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Balance Type:	debit
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- Definition

Gross amount of unprocessed materials to be used in manufacturing or production process and supplies that will be consumed.

+ References

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Balance Type:	debit
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- Definition

Amount before valuation and LIFO reserves of merchandise or goods in the production process expected to be completed within one year or operating cycle, if longer.

+ References

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