because of contract payment schedules , limitations on funding and other contract terms , our sales and accounts receivable for this segment include amounts that have been earned but not yet billed . 21 corporate strategy our drive for 10 vision encompasses five strategic levers that are key to growing our business and achieving long-term success . since launching drive for 10 in 2011 , we made progress on each of the levers as follows : · maximizing value in our existing businesses by rationalizing standard beverage container and end capacity in north america and expanding specialty container production to meet current demand ; leveraging plant floor systems in our metal beverage facilities to improve efficiencies and reduce costs ; consolidating and or closing multiple metal beverage and metal food and aerosol packaging facilities ; relocating our european headquarters to zurich , switzerland , to gain business , customer and supplier efficiencies ; and implementing cost-out and value-in initiatives across all of our businesses ; · expanding further into new products and capabilities by expanding into extruded aluminum aerosol manufacturing with our mexican acquisition in december 2012 and the installation of a new extruded aluminum aerosol line in our deforest , wisconsin , facility during 2014 ; and successfully commercializing extruded aluminum aerosol packaging that utilizes a significant amount of recycled material ; · aligning ourselves with the right customers and markets by investing capital to meet double-digit volume growth for specialty beverage containers throughout our global network , which now represent over 27 percent of our global beverage packaging mix , and the introduction of next generation aluminum bottle-shaping technology in north america for a customer under a long term arrangement that is scheduled to start up at the end of the first quarter 2015 ; · broadening our geographic reach with new investments in a metal beverage manufacturing facility in myanmar , as well as an extruded aluminum aerosol manufacturing facility in india , and the award of a south korean environmental instrument in our aerospace business ; and · leveraging our technological expertise in packaging innovation , including the introduction of next-generation aluminum bottle-shaping technologies , the introduction of a new steel aerosol manufacturing technology starting up in mid-2015 and a joint effort between our aerospace business , nasa and the japan aerospace exploration agency to collect science data on the earth 's rain and snowfall via the global precipitation measurement ( gpm ) microwave imager , as well as other technologies to maintain our competitive advantage today and in the future . these ongoing business developments help us stay close to our customers while expanding and or sustaining our industry positions with major beverage , food , personal care , household products and aerospace customers . results of operations consolidated sales and earnings replace_table_token_7_th the increase in net sales in 2014 compared to 2013 was due primarily to higher metal beverage container sales volumes and higher aerospace program revenues , partially offset by lower north american food and household product volumes . net earnings were favorably impacted by higher metal beverage container sales volumes , lower cost of sales as a percentage of net sales , lower depreciation expense , lower interest expense and a lower tax rate in 2014 , partially offset by lower north american food and household product volumes , unfavorable tinplate service center manufacturing performance in the u.s. , higher debt refinancing costs and higher selling , general and administrative costs in 2014. the decrease in net sales in 2013 compared to 2012 was driven largely by lower demand for standard 12-ounce aluminum beverage containers in the u.s. , partially offset by specialty can growth in the americas and higher sales volumes in europe , brazil and the prc . earnings were flat compared to 2012 with lower standard 12-ounce volumes in the u.s. and higher selling , general and administrative expenses being offset by higher specialty can volumes in the americas and improved cost management in our global packaging operations . 22 cost of sales ( excluding depreciation and amortization ) cost of sales , excluding depreciation and amortization , was $ 6,903.5 million in 2014 compared to $ 6,875.4 million in 2013 and $ 7,174.0 million in 2012. these amounts represented 80.6 percent , 81.2 percent and 82.1 percent of consolidated net sales for those three years , respectively . depreciation and amortization depreciation and amortization expense was $ 280.9 million in 2014 compared to $ 299.9 million in 2013 and $ 282.9 million in 2012. these amounts represented 3.3 percent , 3.5 percent and 3.2 percent of consolidated net sales for those three years , respectively . lower expense in 2014 compared to 2013 was largely due to the completion of depreciation for certain acquired european assets . the higher expense in 2013 compared to 2012 was primarily due to capital spending in excess of historical levels and changes in currency exchange rates . selling , general and administrative selling , general and administrative ( sg & a ) expenses were $ 466.5 million in 2014 compared to $ 418.6 million in 2013 and $ 385.5 million in 2012. these amounts represented 5.4 percent , 4.9 percent and 4.4 percent of consolidated net sales for those three years , respectively . the increase in sg & a in 2014 compared to 2013 was primarily due to higher incentive compensation and employee benefit costs and other individually insignificant higher costs . the higher expenses in 2013 compared to 2012 were largely related to the reassessment of certain expenses in europe from cost of sales to sg & a in light of the relocation of the european headquarters . interest expense consolidated interest expense was $ 193.0 million in 2014 compared to $ 211.8 million in 2013 and $ 194.9 million in 2012. excluding debt refinancing costs , interest expense in 2014 was lower than in 2013 due primarily to lower average debt levels and lower average borrowing rates . story_separator_special_tag based on the above definitions , our calculation of comparable ebit is summarized below : replace_table_token_13_th our calculations of comparable ebitda , the comparable ebit to interest coverage ratio and the net debt to comparable ebitda ratio are summarized below : replace_table_token_14_th 29 our calculation of comparable earnings is summarized below : replace_table_token_15_th ( a ) 2012 amounts have been revised for the prior period correction of deferred taxes ; further details are included in note 1 to the consolidated financial statements within item 8 of this annual report . free cash flow management internally uses a free cash flow measure : ( 1 ) to evaluate the company 's operating results , ( 2 ) to evaluate strategic investments , ( 3 ) to plan stock buyback and dividend levels and ( 4 ) to evaluate the company 's ability to incur and service debt . free cash flow is not a defined term under u.s. gaap , and it should not be inferred that the entire free cash flow amount is available for discretionary expenditures . the company defines free cash flow as cash flow from operating activities less capital expenditures . free cash flow is typically derived directly from the company 's consolidated statement of cash flows ; however , it may be adjusted for items that affect comparability between periods . based on the above definition , our consolidated free cash flow is summarized as follows : replace_table_token_16_th based on information currently available , we estimate cash flows from operating activities for 2015 to be in the range of $ 1 billion , capital expenditures to be approximately $ 400 million and free cash flow to be in the range of $ 600 million . in 2015 , we intend to utilize our operating cash flow to fund our stock repurchases , dividend payments , growth capital projects and , to the extent available , acquisitions that meet our various criteria . of the total 2015 estimated capital expenditures , approximately $ 170 million was contractually committed as of december 31 , 2014 . 30 commitments cash payments required for long-term debt maturities , rental payments under noncancellable operating leases , purchase obligations and other commitments in effect at december 31 , 2014 , are summarized in the following table : replace_table_token_17_th ( a ) amounts reported in local currencies have been translated at year-end 2014 exchange rates . ( b ) for variable rate facilities , amounts are based on interest rates in effect at year end and do not contemplate the effects of any hedging instruments utilized by the company . ( c ) the company 's purchase obligations include contracted amounts for aluminum , steel and other direct materials . also included are commitments for purchases of natural gas and electricity , expenses related to aerospace and technologies contracts and other less significant items . in cases where variable prices and or usage are involved , management 's best estimates have been used . depending on the circumstances , early termination of the contracts may or may not result in penalties and , therefore , actual payments could vary significantly . the table above does not include $ 65.5 million of uncertain tax positions , the timing of which is unknown at this time . contributions to the company 's defined benefit pension plans , not including the unfunded german plans , are expected to be insignificant in 2015. this estimate may change based on changes in the pension protection act and actual plan asset performance and available company cash flow , among other factors . benefit payments related to these plans are expected to be $ 91.6 million , $ 94.9 million , $ 98.8 million , $ 102.1 million and $ 106.0 million for the years ending december 31 , 2015 through 2019 , respectively , and a total of $ 572.8 million for the years 2020 through 2024. payments to participants in the unfunded german plans are expected to be between $ 18 million and $ 20 million in each of the years 2015 through 2019 and a total of $ 87 million for the years 2020 through 2024. based on changes in return on asset and discount rate assumptions , as well as revisions based on plan experience studies , total pension expense in 2015 is anticipated to be approximately $ 7 million higher than in 2014 , excluding curtailment expenses . a reduction of the expected return on pension assets assumption by one quarter of a percentage point would result in an estimated $ 3.6 million increase in the 2015 pension expense , while a quarter of a percentage point reduction in the discount rate applied to the pension liability would result in an estimated $ 5.4 million of additional pension expense in 2015. additional information regarding the company 's pension plans is provided in note 14 accompanying the consolidated financial statements within item 8 of this annual report . due to the u.s. tax status of certain of ball 's subsidiaries in canada and the prc , the company annually provides u.s. taxes on foreign earnings in those subsidiaries , net of any estimated foreign tax credits . the company also provides deferred taxes on the undistributed earnings in its brazil investment related to its 10 percent indirectly held investment . current taxes are also provided on certain other undistributed earnings that are currently taxed in the u.s. net u.s. taxes provided for brazil , canada and prc earnings in 2014 , 2013 and 2012 were $ 11.8 million , $ 26.4 million and $ 14.5 million , respectively . management 's intention is to indefinitely reinvest undistributed earnings of ball 's remaining foreign investments and , as a result , no u.s. income or federal withholding tax provision has been made . the indefinite reinvestment assertion is supported by both long-term and short-term forecasts and u.s. financial requirements , including , but not limited to ,

cash flows and capital expenditures our primary sources of liquidity are cash provided by operating activities and external committed borrowings . we believe that cash flows from operations and cash provided by short-term , long-term and committed revolver borrowings , when necessary , will be sufficient to meet our ongoing operating requirements , scheduled principal and interest payments on debt , dividend payments , proposed acquisitions , including the announced , proposed acquisition of rexam , and anticipated capital expenditures . the following summarizes our cash flows : replace_table_token_12_th cash flows from operations in 2014 improved compared to 2013 due to higher net earnings and favorable working capital changes . the favorable working capital changes were primarily related to lower days sales outstanding , lower inventory days on hand and higher days payable outstanding . days sales outstanding decreased from 36 days to 34 days , inventory days on hand decreased from 53 days to 52 days and days payable outstanding increased from 51 days to 69 days . working capital changes in 2013 compared to 2012 were primarily related to higher days payable outstanding and lower days sales outstanding , partially offset by higher inventory days on hand . days payable outstanding increased from 47 days to 51 days , days sales outstanding decreased from 37 days to 36 days and inventory days on hand increased from 51 days to 53 days . we have entered into several regional uncommitted accounts receivable factoring programs with various financial institutions for certain accounts receivables of the company . the programs are accounted for as true sales of the receivables , without recourse to ball , and had combined limits of approximately $ 293 million at december 31 , 2014. a total of $ 197.6 million and $ 137.5 million were sold under these programs as of december 31 , 2014 and 2013 , respectively .


 Write a concise suspicious activity report of the following text delimited by triple backquotes. Return your response as a formal report which covers the key points highlighting the location,dates,entity names and account holder information in chronological order of the text.
     ```cash flows and capital expenditures our primary sources of liquidity are cash provided by operating activities and external committed borrowings . we believe that cash flows from operations and cash provided by short-term , long-term and committed revolver borrowings , when necessary , will be sufficient to meet our ongoing operating requirements , scheduled principal and interest payments on debt , dividend payments , proposed acquisitions , including the announced , proposed acquisition of rexam , and anticipated capital expenditures . the following summarizes our cash flows : replace_table_token_12_th cash flows from operations in 2014 improved compared to 2013 due to higher net earnings and favorable working capital changes . the favorable working capital changes were primarily related to lower days sales outstanding , lower inventory days on hand and higher days payable outstanding . days sales outstanding decreased from 36 days to 34 days , inventory days on hand decreased from 53 days to 52 days and days payable outstanding increased from 51 days to 69 days . working capital changes in 2013 compared to 2012 were primarily related to higher days payable outstanding and lower days sales outstanding , partially offset by higher inventory days on hand . days payable outstanding increased from 47 days to 51 days , days sales outstanding decreased from 37 days to 36 days and inventory days on hand increased from 51 days to 53 days . we have entered into several regional uncommitted accounts receivable factoring programs with various financial institutions for certain accounts receivables of the company . the programs are accounted for as true sales of the receivables , without recourse to ball , and had combined limits of approximately $ 293 million at december 31 , 2014. a total of $ 197.6 million and $ 137.5 million were sold under these programs as of december 31 , 2014 and 2013 , respectively .
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 Suspicious Activity Report : because of contract payment schedules , limitations on funding and other contract terms , our sales and accounts receivable for this segment include amounts that have been earned but not yet billed . 21 corporate strategy our drive for 10 vision encompasses five strategic levers that are key to growing our business and achieving long-term success . since launching drive for 10 in 2011 , we made progress on each of the levers as follows : · maximizing value in our existing businesses by rationalizing standard beverage container and end capacity in north america and expanding specialty container production to meet current demand ; leveraging plant floor systems in our metal beverage facilities to improve efficiencies and reduce costs ; consolidating and or closing multiple metal beverage and metal food and aerosol packaging facilities ; relocating our european headquarters to zurich , switzerland , to gain business , customer and supplier efficiencies ; and implementing cost-out and value-in initiatives across all of our businesses ; · expanding further into new products and capabilities by expanding into extruded aluminum aerosol manufacturing with our mexican acquisition in december 2012 and the installation of a new extruded aluminum aerosol line in our deforest , wisconsin , facility during 2014 ; and successfully commercializing extruded aluminum aerosol packaging that utilizes a significant amount of recycled material ; · aligning ourselves with the right customers and markets by investing capital to meet double-digit volume growth for specialty beverage containers throughout our global network , which now represent over 27 percent of our global beverage packaging mix , and the introduction of next generation aluminum bottle-shaping technology in north america for a customer under a long term arrangement that is scheduled to start up at the end of the first quarter 2015 ; · broadening our geographic reach with new investments in a metal beverage manufacturing facility in myanmar , as well as an extruded aluminum aerosol manufacturing facility in india , and the award of a south korean environmental instrument in our aerospace business ; and · leveraging our technological expertise in packaging innovation , including the introduction of next-generation aluminum bottle-shaping technologies , the introduction of a new steel aerosol manufacturing technology starting up in mid-2015 and a joint effort between our aerospace business , nasa and the japan aerospace exploration agency to collect science data on the earth 's rain and snowfall via the global precipitation measurement ( gpm ) microwave imager , as well as other technologies to maintain our competitive advantage today and in the future . these ongoing business developments help us stay close to our customers while expanding and or sustaining our industry positions with major beverage , food , personal care , household products and aerospace customers . results of operations consolidated sales and earnings replace_table_token_7_th the increase in net sales in 2014 compared to 2013 was due primarily to higher metal beverage container sales volumes and higher aerospace program revenues , partially offset by lower north american food and household product volumes . net earnings were favorably impacted by higher metal beverage container sales volumes , lower cost of sales as a percentage of net sales , lower depreciation expense , lower interest expense and a lower tax rate in 2014 , partially offset by lower north american food and household product volumes , unfavorable tinplate service center manufacturing performance in the u.s. , higher debt refinancing costs and higher selling , general and administrative costs in 2014. the decrease in net sales in 2013 compared to 2012 was driven largely by lower demand for standard 12-ounce aluminum beverage containers in the u.s. , partially offset by specialty can growth in the americas and higher sales volumes in europe , brazil and the prc . earnings were flat compared to 2012 with lower standard 12-ounce volumes in the u.s. and higher selling , general and administrative expenses being offset by higher specialty can volumes in the americas and improved cost management in our global packaging operations . 22 cost of sales ( excluding depreciation and amortization ) cost of sales , excluding depreciation and amortization , was $ 6,903.5 million in 2014 compared to $ 6,875.4 million in 2013 and $ 7,174.0 million in 2012. these amounts represented 80.6 percent , 81.2 percent and 82.1 percent of consolidated net sales for those three years , respectively . depreciation and amortization depreciation and amortization expense was $ 280.9 million in 2014 compared to $ 299.9 million in 2013 and $ 282.9 million in 2012. these amounts represented 3.3 percent , 3.5 percent and 3.2 percent of consolidated net sales for those three years , respectively . lower expense in 2014 compared to 2013 was largely due to the completion of depreciation for certain acquired european assets . the higher expense in 2013 compared to 2012 was primarily due to capital spending in excess of historical levels and changes in currency exchange rates . selling , general and administrative selling , general and administrative ( sg & a ) expenses were $ 466.5 million in 2014 compared to $ 418.6 million in 2013 and $ 385.5 million in 2012. these amounts represented 5.4 percent , 4.9 percent and 4.4 percent of consolidated net sales for those three years , respectively . the increase in sg & a in 2014 compared to 2013 was primarily due to higher incentive compensation and employee benefit costs and other individually insignificant higher costs . the higher expenses in 2013 compared to 2012 were largely related to the reassessment of certain expenses in europe from cost of sales to sg & a in light of the relocation of the european headquarters . interest expense consolidated interest expense was $ 193.0 million in 2014 compared to $ 211.8 million in 2013 and $ 194.9 million in 2012. excluding debt refinancing costs , interest expense in 2014 was lower than in 2013 due primarily to lower average debt levels and lower average borrowing rates . story_separator_special_tag based on the above definitions , our calculation of comparable ebit is summarized below : replace_table_token_13_th our calculations of comparable ebitda , the comparable ebit to interest coverage ratio and the net debt to comparable ebitda ratio are summarized below : replace_table_token_14_th 29 our calculation of comparable earnings is summarized below : replace_table_token_15_th ( a ) 2012 amounts have been revised for the prior period correction of deferred taxes ; further details are included in note 1 to the consolidated financial statements within item 8 of this annual report . free cash flow management internally uses a free cash flow measure : ( 1 ) to evaluate the company 's operating results , ( 2 ) to evaluate strategic investments , ( 3 ) to plan stock buyback and dividend levels and ( 4 ) to evaluate the company 's ability to incur and service debt . free cash flow is not a defined term under u.s. gaap , and it should not be inferred that the entire free cash flow amount is available for discretionary expenditures . the company defines free cash flow as cash flow from operating activities less capital expenditures . free cash flow is typically derived directly from the company 's consolidated statement of cash flows ; however , it may be adjusted for items that affect comparability between periods . based on the above definition , our consolidated free cash flow is summarized as follows : replace_table_token_16_th based on information currently available , we estimate cash flows from operating activities for 2015 to be in the range of $ 1 billion , capital expenditures to be approximately $ 400 million and free cash flow to be in the range of $ 600 million . in 2015 , we intend to utilize our operating cash flow to fund our stock repurchases , dividend payments , growth capital projects and , to the extent available , acquisitions that meet our various criteria . of the total 2015 estimated capital expenditures , approximately $ 170 million was contractually committed as of december 31 , 2014 . 30 commitments cash payments required for long-term debt maturities , rental payments under noncancellable operating leases , purchase obligations and other commitments in effect at december 31 , 2014 , are summarized in the following table : replace_table_token_17_th ( a ) amounts reported in local currencies have been translated at year-end 2014 exchange rates . ( b ) for variable rate facilities , amounts are based on interest rates in effect at year end and do not contemplate the effects of any hedging instruments utilized by the company . ( c ) the company 's purchase obligations include contracted amounts for aluminum , steel and other direct materials . also included are commitments for purchases of natural gas and electricity , expenses related to aerospace and technologies contracts and other less significant items . in cases where variable prices and or usage are involved , management 's best estimates have been used . depending on the circumstances , early termination of the contracts may or may not result in penalties and , therefore , actual payments could vary significantly . the table above does not include $ 65.5 million of uncertain tax positions , the timing of which is unknown at this time . contributions to the company 's defined benefit pension plans , not including the unfunded german plans , are expected to be insignificant in 2015. this estimate may change based on changes in the pension protection act and actual plan asset performance and available company cash flow , among other factors . benefit payments related to these plans are expected to be $ 91.6 million , $ 94.9 million , $ 98.8 million , $ 102.1 million and $ 106.0 million for the years ending december 31 , 2015 through 2019 , respectively , and a total of $ 572.8 million for the years 2020 through 2024. payments to participants in the unfunded german plans are expected to be between $ 18 million and $ 20 million in each of the years 2015 through 2019 and a total of $ 87 million for the years 2020 through 2024. based on changes in return on asset and discount rate assumptions , as well as revisions based on plan experience studies , total pension expense in 2015 is anticipated to be approximately $ 7 million higher than in 2014 , excluding curtailment expenses . a reduction of the expected return on pension assets assumption by one quarter of a percentage point would result in an estimated $ 3.6 million increase in the 2015 pension expense , while a quarter of a percentage point reduction in the discount rate applied to the pension liability would result in an estimated $ 5.4 million of additional pension expense in 2015. additional information regarding the company 's pension plans is provided in note 14 accompanying the consolidated financial statements within item 8 of this annual report . due to the u.s. tax status of certain of ball 's subsidiaries in canada and the prc , the company annually provides u.s. taxes on foreign earnings in those subsidiaries , net of any estimated foreign tax credits . the company also provides deferred taxes on the undistributed earnings in its brazil investment related to its 10 percent indirectly held investment . current taxes are also provided on certain other undistributed earnings that are currently taxed in the u.s. net u.s. taxes provided for brazil , canada and prc earnings in 2014 , 2013 and 2012 were $ 11.8 million , $ 26.4 million and $ 14.5 million , respectively . management 's intention is to indefinitely reinvest undistributed earnings of ball 's remaining foreign investments and , as a result , no u.s. income or federal withholding tax provision has been made . the indefinite reinvestment assertion is supported by both long-term and short-term forecasts and u.s. financial requirements , including , but not limited to ,

