General	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
General	General Nature of Business Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc., or SWM or the Company, headquartered in the United States of America, is a multinational diversified producer of highly engineered solutions and advanced materials for a variety of industries. The Company maintains two operating product line segments: Engineered Papers and Advanced Materials and Structures. Historically, through its Engineered Papers ("EP") segment, the Company has primarily served the tobacco industry via the manufacture and sale of paper and reconstituted tobacco products, which remains a key focus. The primary products sold to the tobacco industry include cigarette, plug wrap and base tipping papers, or Cigarette Papers, which are used to wrap various parts of a cigarette, reconstituted tobacco leaf, or RTL, which is used as a blend with virgin tobacco in cigarettes, and reconstituted tobacco wrappers and binders for cigars. These products are sold directly to tobacco companies or their designated converters in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere. The EP segment is a manufacturer of lightweight specialty papers used in manufacturing banded papers used in the production of lower ignition propensity, or LIP, cigarettes and also produces premium specialized papers for other applications, including low volume specialized commercial and industrial commodity paper grades produced, among other reasons, to maximize machine utilization. Through its Advanced Materials & Structures, or AMS, segment, the Company is a specialty producer of resin-based plastic netting through an extrusion process, as well as certain meltblown products, machined plastic core tubes, urethane films, and resin-based rolled products for use in other end segments, such as filtration, surface protection, medical and other industrials. As discussed more fully in Note 3. Business Acquisitions, in October 2015, the Company completed the acquisition of Argotec Intermediate Holdings LLC, or Argotec, a manufacturer of urethane films for use in high performance niche applications such as surface and automotive paint protection, glass lamination, medical woundcare and other industrial uses. This acquisition has been incorporated into the AMS segment. We conduct business in over 90 countries and operate 18 production locations worldwide, with facilities in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg, Russia, Brazil, China and Poland. We also have a 50% equity interest in two joint ventures in China. The first, China Tobacco Mauduit (Jiangmen) Paper Industry Ltd., or CTM, produces cigarette and porous plug wrap papers and the second, China Tobacco Schweitzer (Yunnan) Reconstituted Tobacco Co. Ltd., or CTS, produces RTL. As used in this 2016 Annual Report on Form 10-K, unless the context indicates otherwise, references to "we," "us," "our," "SWM," "Schweitzer-Mauduit" or similar terms include Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

General

Nature of Business

Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc., or SWM or the Company, headquartered in the United States of America, is a multinational diversified producer of highly engineered solutions and advanced materials for a variety of industries. The Company maintains two operating product line segments: Engineered Papers and Advanced Materials and Structures.

Historically, through its Engineered Papers ("EP") segment, the Company has primarily served the tobacco industry via the manufacture and sale of paper and reconstituted tobacco products, which remains a key focus. The primary products sold to the tobacco industry include cigarette, plug wrap and base tipping papers, or Cigarette Papers, which are used to wrap various parts of a cigarette, reconstituted tobacco leaf, or RTL, which is used as a blend with virgin tobacco in cigarettes, and reconstituted tobacco wrappers and binders for cigars. These products are sold directly to tobacco companies or their designated converters in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere. The EP segment is a manufacturer of lightweight specialty papers used in manufacturing banded papers used in the production of lower ignition propensity, or LIP, cigarettes and also produces premium specialized papers for other applications, including low volume specialized commercial and industrial commodity paper grades produced, among other reasons, to maximize machine utilization.

Through its Advanced Materials & Structures, or AMS, segment, the Company is a specialty producer of resin-based plastic netting through an extrusion process, as well as certain meltblown products, machined plastic core tubes, urethane films, and resin-based rolled products for use in other end segments, such as filtration, surface protection, medical and other industrials. As discussed more fully in Note 3. Business Acquisitions, in October 2015, the Company completed the acquisition of Argotec Intermediate Holdings LLC, or Argotec, a manufacturer of urethane films for use in high performance niche applications such as surface and automotive paint protection, glass lamination, medical woundcare and other industrial uses. This acquisition has been incorporated into the AMS segment.

We conduct business in over 90 countries and operate 18 production locations worldwide, with facilities in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg, Russia, Brazil, China and Poland. We also have a 50% equity interest in two joint ventures in China. The first, China Tobacco Mauduit (Jiangmen) Paper Industry Ltd., or CTM, produces cigarette and porous plug wrap papers and the second, China Tobacco Schweitzer (Yunnan) Reconstituted Tobacco Co. Ltd., or CTS, produces RTL.

As used in this 2016 Annual Report on Form 10-K, unless the context indicates otherwise, references to "we," "us," "our," "SWM," "Schweitzer-Mauduit" or similar terms include Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.