GOODWILL AND OTHER INTANGIBLE ASSETS - Other Intangibles, Net (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Sep. 28, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Intangible assets with determinable lives
Gross Carrying Value	$ 106.9	$ 77.7
Accumulated Amortization	(22.8)	(17.0)
Net Carrying Value	84.1	60.7
Intangible assets with indefinite lives
Gross carrying value, Total	253.7	215.4
Net Carrying Value, Total	230.9	198.4
Trademarks
Intangible assets with indefinite lives
Trademarks	146.8	137.7
Customer relationships
Intangible assets with determinable lives
Gross Carrying Value	64.3	44.8
Accumulated Amortization	(7.1)	(3.5)
Net Carrying Value	57.2	41.3
Technology
Intangible assets with determinable lives
Gross Carrying Value	25.9	17.1
Accumulated Amortization	(2.7)	(1.1)
Net Carrying Value	23.2	16.0
Patents
Intangible assets with determinable lives
Gross Carrying Value	4.5	4.5
Accumulated Amortization	(4.5)	(4.5)
Net Carrying Value	0.0	0.0
Other
Intangible assets with determinable lives
Gross Carrying Value	12.2	11.3
Accumulated Amortization	(8.5)	(7.9)
Net Carrying Value	3.7	$ 3.4
SGS Refrigeration Inc. \| Trademarks
Intangible assets with indefinite lives
Trademarks	1.0
SGS Refrigeration Inc. \| Customer relationships
Intangible assets with determinable lives
Net Carrying Value	3.7
SGS Refrigeration Inc. \| Customer backlog
Intangible assets with determinable lives
Net Carrying Value	0.4
Sabik Marine \| Trademarks
Intangible assets with indefinite lives
Trademarks	9.0
Sabik Marine \| Customer relationships
Intangible assets with determinable lives
Net Carrying Value	16.3
Sabik Marine \| Technology
Intangible assets with determinable lives
Net Carrying Value	9.1
Sabik Marine \| Trademarks
Intangible assets with determinable lives
Net Carrying Value	0.2
Sabik Marine \| Customer backlog
Intangible assets with determinable lives
Net Carrying Value	$ 0.4

Accumulated amount of amortization of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance with a finite life.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66006027&loc=d3e16323-109275

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsAccumulatedAmortization
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount before amortization of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance with a finite life.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 928
-SubTopic 340
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6473545&loc=d3e61844-108004

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66006027&loc=d3e16323-109275

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsGross
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount after amortization of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance with a finite life.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsNet
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsNetAbstract
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance and having a projected indefinite period of benefit.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_IndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsExcludingGoodwill
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_IndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsExcludingGoodwillAbstract
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount before accumulated amortization of intangible assets, excluding goodwill.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_IntangibleAssetsGrossExcludingGoodwill
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Sum of the carrying amounts of all intangible assets, excluding goodwill, as of the balance sheet date, net of accumulated amortization and impairment charges.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph ((a)(1),(b))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66006027&loc=d3e16323-109275

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6388964&loc=d3e16212-109274

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_IntangibleAssetsNetExcludingGoodwill
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_IndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_TrademarksMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_CustomerRelationshipsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_DevelopedTechnologyRightsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_PatentsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_OtherIntangibleAssetsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=spxc_SGSRefrigerationInc.Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_OrderOrProductionBacklogMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=spxc_SabikMarineMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_TrademarksMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: