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Post Retirement Benefits
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]  
Post Retirement Benefits
Post Retirement Benefits

The Company provides post retirement benefits to certain of its United States employees, including contributions to a multi-employer defined benefit pension plan, health care and life insurance benefits, and contributions to three 401(k) defined contribution plans.

The Company contributes to a multi-employer defined benefit pension plan for its employees represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers ("IAM") at the Company’s Columbus, Ohio production facility. The Company does not administer this plan and contributions are determined in accordance with provisions of the collective bargaining agreement. The risks of participating in this multi-employer plan are different from a single-employer plan in the following aspects:

•
Assets contributed to the multi-employer plan by one employer may be used to provide benefits to employees of other participating employers.
•
If a participating employer stops contributing to the plan, the unfunded obligations of the plan may be borne by the remaining participating employers.
•
If the Company chooses to stop participating in its multi-employer plan, the Company may be required to pay the plan an amount based on the underfunded status of the plan, referred to as a withdrawal liability.

The Company’s participation in the multi-employer defined benefit pension plan for the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010 is outlined in the table below. The most recent Pension Protection Act ("PPA") zone status available in 2011 and 2010 is for the plan’s year-end at December 31, 2010, and December 31, 2009, respectively. The zone status is based on information the Company received from the plan and is certified by the plan’s actuary. Among other factors, plans in the red zone are generally less than 65 percent funded, plans in the yellow zone are less than 80 percent funded, and plans in the green zone are at least 80 percent funded. The “FIP/RP Status Pending/Implemented” column indicates whether a financial improvement plan ("FIP") or a rehabilitation plan ("RP") is either pending or has been implemented. The number of employees covered by the Company’s multi-employer plan increased by 18 percent, from 164 in 2010 to 194 in 2011, affecting the period-to-period comparability of the contributions for years 2010 and 2011. The increase in covered employees corresponded to an increase in overall business at the Company's Columbus, Ohio facility.
Pension Fund
 
EIN/Pension Plan Number
 
Pension Protection Act Zone Status
 
FIP/RP Status Pending/ Implemented
 
Contributions of the Company
 
Surcharge Imposed
 
Expiration Date of Collective Bargaining Agreement
 
 
2011
 
2010
 
 
2011
 
2010
 
 
IAM National Pension Fund / National Pension Plan (A)
 
51-6031295 - 002
 
Green as of 12/31/10
 
Green as of 12/31/09
 
No
 
$416,000
 
$385,000
 
No
 
8/10/2013
 
 
 
 
 
 
Total Contributions:
 
$416,000
 
$385,000
 
 
 
 

(A) The National Pension Plan utilized a five year amortization extension in accordance with § 431(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 ("the Code") to amortize its losses from 2008. The plan re-certified its zone status after using the amortization provisions of the Code. The Company's contributions to the plan did not represent more than 5% of total contributions to the plan as indicated in the plan's most recently available annual report for the plan year ended December 31, 2010. Under the terms of the collective-bargaining agreement, the Company is required to make contributions to the plan for each hour worked up to a maximum of 40 hours per week, at the following rates: $1.15 per hour from August 9, 2010 through August 7, 2011; $1.20 per hour from August 8, 2011 through August 12, 2012; and, $1.25 per hour from August 13, 2012 through August 10, 2013.

Prior to the acquisition of Columbus Plastics, certain of the Company's employees were participants in Navistar's post retirement health and life insurance benefit plan. This plan provides healthcare and life insurance benefits for certain employees upon their retirement, along with their spouses and certain dependents and requires cost sharing between the Company, Navistar and the participants, in the form of premiums, co-payments, and deductibles. The Company and Navistar share the cost of benefits for these employees, using a formula that allocates the cost based upon the respective portion of time that the employee was an active service participant after the acquisition of Columbus Plastics to the period of active service prior to the acquisition of Columbus Plastics.

The Company also sponsors a post retirement health and life insurance benefit plan for certain union-represented employees at its Columbus, Ohio production facility. The Company's liability for postretirement health and life insurance benefits relates primarily to its Columbus, Ohio employee base. During the second quarter of 2010, the Company recognized a curtailment in its postretirement benefits liability of $298,000 as a result of a reduction in personnel in Columbus. This reduction in personnel was caused by a production shift of certain product lines from the Company's Columbus, Ohio facility to its Matamoros facility. The Plan was remeasured using a discount rate of 5.9% which was consistent with the discount rate used at December 31, 2009.

On August 7, 2010, the Company entered into a new collective bargaining agreement with union-represented employees at the Company’s Columbus, Ohio production facility. As part of the new agreement, the post retirement health and life insurance benefits for all current and future represented employees who were not retired as of August 7, 2010 were eliminated in exchange for a one-time cash payment of $1,257,000. Individuals who retired prior to August 7, 2010 remain eligible for post retirement health and life insurance benefits.

The elimination of post retirement health and life insurance benefits described above resulted in a reduction of the Company’s post retirement benefits liability of approximately $10,282,000 in 2010. This reduction in post retirement benefits liability was treated as a negative plan amendment and is being amortized as a reduction to net periodic benefit cost over approximately twenty years, the actuarial life expectancy of the remaining participants in the plan at the time of the amendment. This negative plan amendment resulted in net periodic benefit cost reductions of approximately $496,000 in 2011, and will result in net periodic benefit cost reductions of approximately $496,000 in 2012 and each year thereafter during the amortization period, as well as lower interest costs associated with the reduced post retirement benefits liability. The Plan was re-measured using a discount rate of 5.1% at the time of the negative plan amendment.

The one-time cash payment of $1,257,000, as noted above, was made on August 19, 2010. The Company accounted for the one-time cash payment as a partial plan settlement and recorded a one-time charge of $584,000, or $330,000 net of tax, in the third quarter of 2010 to recognize a portion of the previously unrecognized actuarial losses recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income due to the partial settlement.

The funded status of the Company's post retirement health and life insurance benefits plan as of December 31, 2011 and 2010 and reconciliation with the amounts recognized in the consolidated balance sheets are provided below.
 
Post Retirement Benefits
 
2011
 
2010
Change in benefit obligation:
 
 
 
Benefit obligation at beginning of year
$
10,837,000

 
$
18,744,000

Service cost
—

 
208,000

Interest cost
531,000

 
827,000

Curtailment
—

 
(298,000
)
Plan amendment
—

 
(10,282,000
)
Settlement
—

 
(1,257,000
)
Unrecognized (gain) loss
(1,260,000
)
 
3,273,000

Benefits paid
(526,000
)
 
(378,000
)
Benefit obligation at end of year
$
9,582,000

 
$
10,837,000

Plan Assets
—

 
—

 
 
 
 
Amounts recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income:
  
   
 
 
Prior service credit
$
(9,579,000
)
 
$
(10,075,000
)
Net loss
3,963,000

 
5,442,000

Total
$
(5,616,000
)
 
$
(4,633,000
)
Weighted-average assumptions as of December 31:
 
 
 
Discount rate used to determine benefit obligation and net
   periodic benefit cost
4.1
%
 
5.2
%

The components of expense for all of the Company's post retirement benefit plans for the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010 are as follows:
 
 
2011
 
2010
Pension expense:
 
 
 
 
Multi-employer plan
 
$
416,000

 
$
385,000

Defined contribution plans
 
517,000

 
439,000

Total pension expense
 
933,000

 
824,000

 
 
 
 
 
Health and life insurance:
 
 
 
 
Service cost
 
—

 
208,000

Interest cost
 
531,000

 
827,000

Recognition of previously unrecognized actuarial losses due to partial settlement
 
—

 
584,000

Amortization of prior service costs
 
(496,000
)
 
(207,000
)
Amortization of net loss
 
219,000

 
139,000

Net periodic benefit cost
 
254,000

 
1,551,000

 
 
 
 
 
Total post retirement benefits expense
 
$
1,187,000

 
$
2,375,000


The Company accounts for post retirement benefits under FASB ASC 715, which requires the recognition of the funded status of a defined benefit pension or post retirement plan in the consolidated balance sheets. For the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company recognized a net actuarial gain of $1,260,000, or $808,000 net of tax, in other comprehensive income for the year ended December 31, 2011. For the year ended December 31, 2010, the Company recognized a net actuarial loss of $3,273,000 on the Consolidated Balance Sheet. This amount was recorded as other comprehensive loss in the amount of $2,098,000, net of tax.

Amounts not yet recognized as a component of net periodic benefit costs at December 31, 2011 and 2010 were a net prior service cost credit of $5,616,000 and $4,633,000, respectively. The amount in accumulated other comprehensive income expected to be recognized as components of net periodic post retirement cost during 2012 consists of a prior service credit of $496,000, or $318,000 net of tax, and a net loss of $159,000, or $102,000 net of tax. In addition, 2012 interest expense related to post retirement healthcare is expected to be $364,000, or $233,000 net of tax, for a total post retirement healthcare expense of approximately $27,000, or $17,000 net of tax, in 2012. The Company expects contributions in 2012 to be consistent with estimated future benefit payments as shown in the table below.

The weighted average rate of increase in the per capita cost of covered health care benefits is projected to be 7%. The rate is projected to decrease gradually to 5% by the year 2017 and remain at that level thereafter. The comparable assumptions for the prior year were 7% and 5%, respectively.

The effect of changing the health care cost trend rate by one-percentage point for each future year is as follows:
 
1- Percentage
Point Increase
 
1-Percentage
Point Decrease
Effect on total of service and interest cost components
$
54,000

 
$
(64,000
)
Effect on post retirement benefit obligation
$
913,000

 
$
(1,173,000
)

The estimated future benefit payments of the health care plan are as follows:
2012
$
1,002,000

2013
$
581,000

2014
$
563,000

2015
$
567,000

2016
$
528,000

2017 - 2021
$
2,487,000