Question

Silven Industries, which manufactures and sells a highly successful line of summer lotions and insect repellents, has decided to diversify in order to stabilize sales throughout the year. A natural area for the company to consider is the production of winter lotions and creams to prevent dry and chapped skin.

After considerable research, a winter products line has been developed. However, Silven’s president has decided to introduce only one of the new products for this coming winter. If the product is a success, further expansion in future years will be initiated.

The product selected (called Chap-Off) is a lip balm that will be sold in a lipstick-type tube. The product will be sold to wholesalers in boxes of 24 tubes for $12 per box. Because of excess capacity, no additional fixed manufacturing overhead costs will be incurred to produce the product. However, a $103,500 charge for fixed manufacturing overhead will be absorbed by the product under the company’s absorption costing system.

Using the estimated sales and production of 115,000 boxes of Chap-Off, the Accounting Department has developed the following manufacturing cost per box:

Direct material	$	5.20
Direct labor		3.60
Manufacturing overhead		2.20
Total cost	$	11.00

The costs above relate to making both the lip balm and the tube that contains it. As an alternative to making the tubes for Chap-Off, Silven has approached a supplier to discuss the possibility of buying the tubes. The purchase price of the supplier's empty tubes would be $1.90 per box of 24 tubes. If Silven Industries stops making the tubes and buys them from the outside supplier, its direct labor and variable manufacturing overhead costs per box of Chap-Off would be reduced by 10% and its direct materials costs would be reduced by 25%.

Required:

1. If Silven buys its tubes from the outside supplier, how much of its own Chap-Off manufacturing costs per box will it be able to avoid? (Hint: You need to separate the manufacturing overhead of $2.20 per box that is shown above into its variable and fixed components to derive the correct answer.)

2. What is the financial advantage (disadvantage) per box of Chap-Off if Silven buys its tubes from the outside supplier?

3. What is the financial advantage (disadvantage) in total (not per box) if Silven buys 115,000 boxes of tubes from the outside supplier?

4. Should Silven Industries make or buy the tubes?

5. What is the maximum price that Silven should be willing to pay the outside supplier for a box of 24 tubes?

6. Instead of sales of 115,000 boxes of tubes, revised estimates show a sales volume of 143,000 boxes of tubes. At this higher sales volume, Silven would need to rent extra equipment at a cost of $48,000 per year to make the additional 28,000 boxes of tubes. Assuming that the outside supplier will not accept an order for less than 143,000 boxes of tubes, what is the financial advantage (disadvantage) in total (not per box) if Silven buys 143,000 boxes of tubes from the outside supplier? Given this new information, should Silven Industries make or buy the tubes?

7. Refer to the data in (6) above. Assume that the outside supplier will accept an order of any size for the tubes at a price of $1.90 per box. How many boxes of tubes should Silven make? How many boxes of tubes should it buy from the outside supplier?

Answer 1

Solution 1:
Computation of variable Manufacturing Overhead per unit
Total Manufacturing overhead per unit		2.20
Less: Fixed manufacturing overhead per unit
Total fixed overhead	103500
/ number of Boxes	115000	0.90
Variable manufacturing overhead per unit		1.30
Avoidable manufacturing costs per box of Chap-off
	Existing	Reduction %	Avoidable cost
Direct materials	5.20	25%	1.30
Direct labor	3.60	10%	0.36
Variable manufacturing overhead	1.30	10%	0.13
Avoidable manufacturing costs per box of Chap-off	1.79

Solution 2:
Avoidable manufacturing costs per box of Chap-off	1.79
Purchase price of the supplier's empty tubes	1.90
Financial advantage (Disadvantage)	-0.11
Solution 3:
Number of Boxes	115000
Financial advantage (Disadvantage) per box	-0.11
Financial advantage (Disadvantage) in Total	-12650
Solution 4:
Should Silven Industries make or Buy the Tubes =	Make
Solution 5:
Maximum Price = Avoidable costs per box of Chap-off	1.79

Solution 6:
For Revised volume of Boxes of Tubes:	Cost to Make	Cost to Buy
Number of Boxes	143000	143000
*Cost per box of Tube	1.79	1.90
Normal Costs	255970	271700
Add: Annual Rent on Extra Equipment	48000	0
Total Relevent costs to make or buy	303970	271700
Financial advantage (Disadvantage) if buy:	Advantage
(Cost to make - Cost to buy)	32270
make or Buy the boxes of Tubes?	Buy

Solution 7:
Number of Boxes of tubes manufactured by Silven	115000
Number of Boxes of tubes purchased from outside	28000