15. Restructuring Costs (Notes)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Restructuring and Related Activities Disclosure [Text Block]

RESTRUCTURING COSTS

Restructuring Costs for European Reorganization

In May 2016, we announced that we would take certain actions in our Europe geographic region designed to better align expenses to our revenue and gross margin profile and position us for improved operating performance. These actions, aligned with creation and evolution of our organization structure and coordinated with the implementation of our global single instance enterprise resource planning ("ERP") platform, are expected to be incurred through 2019. We recorded approximately $(0.2) million, $0.5 million and $12.5 million in restructuring charges and adjustments related to severance and other employee benefits for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. From May 2016 to December 31, 2018, total expenses were $12.8 million. The liability of $1.6 million as of December 31, 2018 was recorded in Accrued payroll and employee benefits in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. The amounts recorded were reflected in Cost of goods sold of $(0.1) million, $(0.2) million and $2.1 million, and in Selling, general and administrative expense of $(0.1) million, $0.7 million and $10.4 million in the Consolidated Statements of Income for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The amounts adjusted were primarily for additional positions identified for elimination, partially offset by employees finding other positions within Bio-Rad or leaving prematurely.

The following table summarizes the activity of our European reorganization restructuring reserves for severance (in millions):



	2018									2017
	Life Science			Clinical Diagnostics			Total			Life Science			Clinical Diagnostics			Total
Balance as of January 1	$	2.2		$	4.1		$	6.3		$	3.2		$	5.8		$	9.0
Adjustment to expense	(0.1		)	(0.1		)	(0.2		)	0.2			0.3			0.5
Cash payments	(1.5		)	(2.9		)	(4.4		)	(1.5		)	(2.7		)	(4.2		)
Foreign currency translation (gains) losses	—			(0.1		)	(0.1		)	0.3			0.7			1.0
Balance as of December 31	$	0.6		$	1.0		$	1.6		$	2.2		$	4.1		$	6.3

Restructuring Costs for Termination of a Diagnostics Research and Development Project and Facility Closures

In December 2017, we announced the termination of a diagnostics research and development project in Europe. From December 2017 to December 31, 2018, total expenses were $21.4 million. We recorded restructuring charges and adjustments related to severance and employee benefits of $0.4 million and $11.0 million, and asset write-offs and exit costs of $(0.1) million and $10.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

In June 2018, we announced the closure of a small manufacturing operation in Munich, Germany. We recorded $1.7 million of expense in restructuring charges related to severance and employee benefits for the year ended December 31, 2018.

In December 2018, we announced the closure of a small manufacturing facility outside Paris, France. We recorded restructuring charges related to severance and employee benefits of $3.9 million and exit costs of $0.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Restructuring charges for the termination of a diagnostics research and development project and the facility closures are all included in our Clinical Diagnostics segment's results of operations. The facility closures are a natural evolution from the larger consolidations that began with the 2016 European reorganization activities described above. The amounts recorded were reflected in Cost of goods sold of $5.4 million and $2.3 million, in Selling, general and administrative expense of $0.4 million and $3.3 million, and in Research and development expense of $0.3 million and $15.5 million in the Consolidated Statements of Income for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The liability of $11.5 million as of December 31, 2018 consisted of $7.3 million recorded in Accrued payroll and employee benefits, and $4.2 million recorded in Other long-term liabilities in the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

The following table summarizes the activity for the termination of the diagnostics research and development project and the facility closures restructuring reserves for severance and exit costs (in millions):



	2018			2017
Balance as of January 1	$	14.1		$	—
Charged to expense	5.8			14.0
Adjustment to expense	0.3			—
Cash payments	(8.4		)	—
Foreign currency translation (gains) losses	(0.3		)	0.1
Balance as of December 31	$	11.5		$	14.1

Restructuring Costs for GnuBIO, Inc.

In 2014, we acquired GnuBIO, Inc. (GnuBIO) as a business acquisition. It was included in our Clinical Diagnostics segment’s results of operations as a division, and was primarily based in Massachusetts. In September 2017, we announced that we were closing the GnuBIO research program facilities in Massachusetts. We recorded restructuring charges in September 2017 related to severance and employee benefits of $2.9 million and asset write-offs of $5.5 million. The amounts recorded were reflected in Selling, general and administrative expense of $0.8 million and in Research and development expense of $7.6 million in the Consolidated Statements of Income for the year ended December 31, 2017. The liability balance as of December 31, 2017 was $1.4 million and was recorded in Accrued payroll and employee benefits in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. The liability was paid in early 2018.