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Amount of accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization for physical assets used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services.

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Amount before accumulated depreciation of building structures held for productive use including addition, improvement, or renovation to the structure, including, but not limited to, interior masonry, interior flooring, electrical, and plumbing.

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Amount before accumulated amortization of capitalized costs for computer software, including but not limited to, acquired and internally developed computer software.

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Amount of structure or a modification to a structure under construction. Includes recently completed structures or modifications to structures that have not been placed into service.

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The amount of expense recognized in the current period that reflects the allocation of the cost of tangible assets over the assets' useful lives. Includes production and non-production related depreciation.

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Amount before accumulated depletion of real estate held for productive use, excluding land held for sale.

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Amount before accumulated depreciation of tangible personal property used to produce goods and services, including, but is not limited to, tools, dies and molds, computer and office equipment.

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Amount before accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization of physical assets used in the normal conduct of business and not intended for resale. Examples include, but are not limited to, land, buildings, machinery and equipment, office equipment, and furniture and fixtures.

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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.

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Amount after accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization of physical assets used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale. Examples include, but are not limited to, land, buildings, machinery and equipment, office equipment, and furniture and fixtures.

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Amount before accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization of other physical assets used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale.

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Useful life of long lived, physical assets used in the normal conduct of business and not intended for resale, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days. Examples include, but not limited to, land, buildings, machinery and equipment, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment.

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Property, plant and equipment (Schedule) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Land	$ 265	$ 283
Buildings and improvements	3,616	3,507
Manufacturing equipment	2,418	2,372
Laboratory equipment	1,174	1,179
Capitalized software	1,124	1,150
Other	3,204	3,254
Construction in progress	953	834
Property, plant and equipment, gross	12,754	12,579
Less accumulated depreciation and amortization	(7,796)	(7,590)
Property, plant and equipment, net	4,958	4,989
Depreciation and amortization charges associated with property, plant and equipment	$ 630	$ 604	$ 619
Buildings and improvements [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life (in years)	10 years
Buildings and improvements [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life (in years)	40 years
Manufacturing equipment [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life (in years)	8 years
Manufacturing equipment [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life (in years)	12 years
Laboratory equipment [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life (in years)	8 years
Laboratory equipment [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life (in years)	12 years
Capitalized software [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life (in years)	3 years
Capitalized software [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life (in years)	5 years
Other [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life (in years)	3 years
Other [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Useful life (in years)	15 years