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Dateesha Blakely PROC 5830 22 April 2011 Wk 7 Case 2 Case of the Pricing Predicament Case Assignment Calibrated manufacturing makes an electronic component that is in great demand. The component sells for $20 each. Calibrated’s current capacity is 10,000 units per week. For the last few months, however, the company has been receiving new orders at a rate of 14,000 units per week, and now has a substantial backlog. The company expects this order rate to continue, if it maintains price.
Calibrated’s current operating data follows: Sales Revenue$200,000 Variable Costs$100,000 Fixed Costs$80,000 Pretax Profit$20,000 For each incremental addition of 500 units of output weekly, Calibrated would need to purchase new equipment that would add $1,500 to weekly fixed costs. No other fixed costs would become incremental for this price change. Labor costs currently account for half of all variable costs. Additional hires, however, are expected to be more costly than the average of current employees because of their lower productivity.
Although new hires are paid (wages + fringe benefits) only 80% of the current average, they can produce only two-thirds as much output per hour. Consequently, labor costs for additional output with new hires is 20% higher than the current average. Calibrated is debating whether to keep its current price and expand to meet the demand or to raise its price to reduce demand somewhat before deciding whether or not to expand. 1. How much would Calibrated’s weekly profits increase if it expanded to meet the entire amount of its current excess demand? New incremental costs:
Fixed Costs = 1500 x 4000/500 = $12,000 (every 500 units cost $1500, so incremental 4000 units would cost 1500 x 4000/500) Variable cost per unit = $10 Current Labor cost per unit = 1/2 of variable cost = $5 New Labor cost per unit for incremental units = $6 (20% higher than current $5) New Variable cost per unit =$11 Contribution Margin per unit for incremental units = $20 – $11 = $9 Total Contribution = 4000 units x 9 = $36,000 Total Incremental Fixed costs = $12000 Net increase in weekly profit = $36,000 – $12,000 = $24,000 2. Prepare an analysis of a 10% price increase Calculate the break-even sales quantity (percent and units) oCalculate the new $ contribution margin per unit Analysis This shows increase in sales price per unit causes an increase in the contribution margin, as there is not change in the volume the fixed will remain unchanged. So the incremental change is contribution margin is included into the profit. 3. What risks might be to Calibrated of increasing price to maximize profit? What risks might there be to Calibrated of expanding output rather than reducing demand through a price increase