Property, Plant, and Equipment and Assets Held for Sale

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Property, Plant, and Equipment and Assets Held for Sale

Property, Plant, and Equipment and Assets Held for Sale

Note 8 — Property, Plant, and Equipment and Assets Held for Sale

Property and equipment, net, consist of the following:

	December 31,				Average
	2015		2014		Useful Life
	(in thousands)
Land	$	9,592	$	9,392	N/A
Building and improvements	54,622		51,979		10 – 40 years
Machinery and equipment	110,075		104,815		3 – 10 years
Leasehold improvements	5,554		4,356		3 – 7 years

Gross property, plant and equipment	179,843		170,542
Less: accumulated depreciation and amortization	100,253		91,790

Net property, plant, and equipment	$	79,590	$	78,752

Depreciation expense was $12.2 million, $11.4 million, and $12.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014, and 2013, respectively.

Assets Held for Sale

At December 31, 2015, assets held for sale consist of a vacant building and land which were designated as held for sale during 2014. The carrying value reflects the Company’s estimate of fair value less costs to sell using the sales comparison market approach.

During the year ended December 31, 2014, the Company classified property, plant, and equipment with a carrying value of $9.5 million as assets held for sale. Using Level 2 measurement principles, the Company determined that the carrying cost of these assets exceeded the fair market value, less cost to sell, and recorded an impairment charge of approximately $3.5 million, which consisted of $1.6 million related to the Company’s research and demonstration labs in Asia and $1.9 million related to a vacant building and land. These amounts were included in “Asset impairment” in the Consolidated Statements of Operations. The net $6.0 million carrying value of these assets are included in “Assets held for sale” in the Consolidated Balance Sheet. During the year ended December 31, 2014, the Company recognized additional asset impairment charges of $0.7 million relating to assets that were abandoned during the year, which was included in “Asset impairment” in the Consolidated Statements of Operations.

During the year ended December 31, 2015, the Company sold its assets previously held for sale related to its research and demonstration labs in Asia for $1.0 million, which was the carrying value for the assets. The Company continues to actively market the remaining assets held for sale.