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Significant Accounting Policies (Tables) | 12 Months Ended
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Oct. 31, 2017
Accounting Policies [Abstract] |
Useful Lives of Property, Plant and Equipment and Depreciation | Useful lives are as follows:
Land improvements | 15-25 years
Buildings | 20-40 years
Machinery and equipment | 3-18 years
Enterprise management systems | 5-13 years
Weighted Average Useful Lives for Each Major Category of Amortizable Intangible Assets | At October 31, 2017, the weighted-average useful lives for each major category of amortizable intangible assets were:
Patent/technology costs | 13 years
Customer relationships | 14 years
Noncompete agreements | 3 years
Trade names | 15 years
Summary of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss | Accumulated other comprehensive loss at October 31, 2017 and 2016 consisted of:
|  | Cumulative |  |  | Pension and |  |  | Accumulated |
|  | translation |  |  | postretirement benefit |  |  | other comprehensive |
|  | adjustments |  |  | plan adjustments |  |  | loss |
Balance at October 31, 2016 |  | $ | (51,120 | ) |  | $ | (117,127 | ) |  | $ | (168,247 | )
Pension and postretirement plan changes, net of tax of $(4,852) |  |  | — |  |  |  | 11,115 |  |  |  | 11,115 |
Currency translation losses |  |  | 22,697 |  |  |  | — |  |  |  | 22,697 |
Balance at October 31, 2017 |  | $ | (28,423 | ) |  | $ | (106,012 | ) |  | $ | (134,435 | )
Reconciliation of Product Warranty Liability | Following is a reconciliation of the product warranty liability for 2017 and 2016:
|  | 2017 |  |  | 2016 |
Balance at beginning of year |  | $ | 11,770 |  |  | $ | 10,537 |
Accruals for warranties |  |  | 11,394 |  |  |  | 14,487 |
Warranty assumed from acquisitions |  |  | 75 |  |  |  | — |
Warranty payments |  |  | (10,090 | ) |  |  | (12,575 | )
Currency adjustments |  |  | 228 |  |  |  | (679 | )
Balance at end of year |  | $ | 13,377 |  |  | $ | 11,770 |

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- Definition Tabular disclosure of the changes in the guarantor's aggregate product warranty liability, including the beginning balance of the aggregate product warranty liability, the aggregate reductions in that liability for payments made (in cash or in kind) under the warranty, the aggregate changes in the liability for accruals related to product warranties issued during the reporting period, the aggregate changes in the liability for accruals related to preexisting warranties (including adjustments related to changes in estimates), and the ending balance of the aggregate product warranty liability. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 460 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 8 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=68068213&loc=d3e12565-110249 + Details
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