Soap Makers International

Several years ago, Ingrid Krause wanted some international expertise and applied for a transfer to her company’s soap division, which is located south of Warsaw, Poland. The soap division manufactures hand soap for use in a large number of settings, from hospitals to luxury hotels. Ingrid was awarded the transfer to the soap division and was assigned to the accounting department. She is responsible for overseeing the costing and probability analysis of the various soaps and soap-making processes. During her tenure in the soap division, there were numerous changes in the number of soaps manufactured and the processes to make the different soaps. Consequently, Ingrid’s position required her to consider changes in the accounting processes to reflect the changes in the soap division’s business.

For several decades, the company’s soap-making process required a large labour force that manufactured and packaged the soap mainly by hand. Local economic changes meant that the labour force that the factory required was not as available as it had been in the past. As a result, the division was experiencing slower processing time, and more snap being rejected during inspections because of quality concerns. To address the issues related to the lack of labour availability, the division’s management decided three years ago that automation was the way to go. Consequently, over the last three years, the soap making processes have changed with the implementation of automation.

The automation of the soap making processes have allowed for a much larger variety of soap and packing, a reduced direct labour force and direct labour costs, and a higher level of traceability of costs to the various soaps because of technological improvements. Soaps made for industrial applications require different ingredients, less time in processing, less time in finishing, and less time in and cheaper packaging than do soaps for the hotel industry. The costs of materials and packaging are directly traceable to the various types of soaps through new software that uses bar codes and counters to trace material costs to the various soaps directly.

Ingrid feels that the current costing system should be revisited. The cost driver for allocation of the overhead costs (such as supervisory salaries and plant utilities) have always been direct labour hours cost. However, given the decline in the use of labour due to automation, Ingrid is questioning its suitability as a basis of allocation. Ingrid would like to explore activity based costing to allocate overhead costs.

Ingrid has gathered cost data for two representative soaps: one sold to hospitals and one sold to hotels. Further, Ingrid has gathered data from the automated system on the amount of time each type of soap spends in the three manufacturing processes: processing, finishing, and packaging. The soap is produced in large batches, consequently, the data are adjusted to reflect the average cost per 100g of soap. The data for type of soap for one month’s production are in Exhibit 1.

REQUIRED

Prepare a report for Ingrid Krause that addresses her interest in exploring an activity-based costing (ABC) system while including the following:

1. Is Ingrid’s expectation of changing her cost allocation of overhead from a traditional approach (one cost driver for allocation) to an ABC approach (multiple cost drivers applied to multiple cost pools) justifiable? If so, explain to her why it is.
2. Calculate the costs (of direct material, direct labour, and overhead) for each of the two representative types of soap using direct labour as the basis for the allocation of overhead.
3. Calculate the costs (of direct material, direct labour, and overhead) for each of the two representative types of soap using and ABC approach for the allocation of manufacturing costs.
4. Do the cost allocation calculations provide support for an ABC approach? Explain.
5. Would you advise Ingrid Krause to continue with her traditional costing approach or change to an ABC approach? Explain.

EXHIBIT 1 – COSTS FOR ONE MONTH’S PRODUCTION OF SOAP

EXHIBIT 2 – TIME REQUIRED FOR ONE MONTH’S PRODUCTION OF SOAP

A) Provide a PESTLE Analysis for the firm

B) Provide a SWOT Analysis for the firm

Freemark Abbey Winery

Earlier in September, William Jaeger, a member of the partnership that owned Freemark Abbey Winery, had to make a decision:  should he harvest the Riesling grapes immediately or leave them on the vines despite an approaching storm?A storm just before harvest is usually detrimental, often ruining the crop.  A warm, light rain, however, will sometimes cause a beneficial mold, botrytis cinerea, to form on the grape skins.  The result is a luscious, complex, sweet wine, highly valued by connoisseurs.

The Winery

Freemark Abbey is located in St. Helena, California, in the northern Napa Valley.  The winery produces only premium wines from the best grape varieties.  Of the 25,000 cases of wine bottled each year (about the same as Chateau Lafite-Rothschild), most were Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.  About 1,000 cases of Riesling and 500 cases of Petite Syrah were also bottled.  (A case contains twelve 750-ml bottles.)

The Napa Valley extends for 30 miles, from Calistoga in the north to Napa in the south.  The average temperature decreases as one moves south, closer to San Francisco Bay and the cold ocean waters.  Freemark Abbey’s grapes come from an ideal climate in the central and southern parts of the valley.

Winemaking

Wine is produced when the fruit sugar, which is naturally present in the juice of grapes, is converted to yeast, through fermentation, into approximately equal molecular quantities of alcohol and carbon dioxide.  Sparkling wines excepted, the carbon dioxide is allowed to bubble up and dissipate.  The wine then ages in barrels for one or more years, until it is ready for bottling.

By various decisions during wine-making – for example, the type of wooden barrel used for aging – the vintner or winemaker influences the style of wine produced.  The style adopted by a particular winery depends mainly on the owners’ preferences, though it is influenced by marketing considerations.  Usually, as the grapes ripen, the sugar levels increase and the acidity levels decrease.  The winemaker tries to harvest the grapes when they have achieved the proper balance of sugar and acidity for the style of wine sought.  The ripening process is variable, however, and if the weather is not favorable, the proper balance might never occur.

Several different styles of Riesling (more accurately, Johannisberg Riesling) are on the market. If the grapes are harvested at 20% sugar, the wine is fermented “dry” (all the sugar is converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide) or “near dry.”  The resulting wine, at bout 10% alcohol, is light bodied.  If the grapes are harvested at 25% sugar, the winemaker can produce a wine with the same 10% alcohol but with 5% residual sugar; this wine is sweet and relatively full bodied.

A third and rare style results when almost-ripe Riesling grapes are attacked by the botrytismold.  The skins of the grapes become porous, allowing water to evaporate while the sugar remains.  Thus, the sugar concentration increases greatly, sometimes to 35% residual sugar, has extraordinary concentration, and the botrytisitself adds to the wine’s complexity.  Freemark Abbey had already produced a botrytisedRiesling from an earlier vintage.

Jaeger’s Decision Problem

From the weather reports, Jaeger concluded that there was a 50 – 50 chance that the rainstorm would hit the Napa Valley.  Since the storm had originated over the warm waters off Mexico, he thought there was a 40% chance that, if the storm did strike, it would lead to the development of the botrytismold.  If the botrytisdid not form, however, the rainwater, which would be absorbed into the grapes through the roots of the vines, would merely swell the berries by 5 – 10%, decreasing their concentration.  This would yield a thin wine that would sell wholesale for only about $2.00 per bottle, about $0.85 less than Jaeger could obtain by harvesting the not-quite-ripe grapes immediately and eliminating the risk. Freemark Abbey always had the option of not bottling a wine that was not up to standards.  It could sell the wine in bulk, or it could sell the grapes directly. These options would bring only half has much revenue, but would at least avoid damaging the winery’s reputation, which would be risked by bottling an inferior product.

If Jaeger decided not to harvest the grapes immediately in anticipation of the storm, and the storm did not strike, Jaeger would probably leave the grapes to ripen more fully. With luck, the grapes would reach 25% sugar, resulting in a wine selling for around $3.50 wholesale.  Even with less-favorable weather, the sugar levels would probably top 20%, yielding a lighter wine selling at around $3.00. Jaeger thought these possibilities were equally likely.  In the past, sugar levels occasionally failed to rise above 19%.  Moreover, while waiting for sugar levels to rise, the acidity levels must also be monitored.  When the acidity drops below about 0.7%, the grapes must be harvested whatever the sugar level.  If this happened, the wine would be priced at only about $2.50.  Jaeger felt that this even had only about a 0.2 probability.

The wholesale price for a botrytised Riesling would be about $8.00 per bottle.  Unfortunately, the same process that resulted in increased sugar concentration also caused a 30% reduction in the total juice.  The higher price was, therefore, partly offset by a reduction in quantity. Although fewer bottles would be produced, there would be essentially no savings in vinification costs.  The costs to the winery were about the same for each of the possible styles of wine and were small relative to the wholesale price.  

Good Economics for Hard Times, Banerjee and Duflo address sources of great anxiety across the world.  They argue that the resources to address these problems are there.  What we need, they say, are ideas that will help us reach across the disagreements and distrust that divide us.  They argue for an intelligent government interventionism and a society built on compassion and respect.  

Drawing upon the readings and lectures, give examples of such interventions

A noise source produces sound mainly at 2500 Hz and an SPL of 95 dB at the location of a worker. In order to decrease this worker’s noise exposure, the employer decides to build a brick wall (? = 400 kg/m2) between source and worker. What would the sound level at the worker’s location be after the wall is built. Assume that the wall is perfect and that the sound must go through it (not around it).

Identify the kind of chips – continuous, discontinuous, segmented or built-up edge, that the following workpieces will tend to form under typical cutting (turning) conditions (i.e. not severely high cutting speeds, depths of cut or feeds). Also, state the reason for why that would be the case.

a) Grey Cast Iron

b) Titanium

c) 4140 Alloy steel

d) stainless steel 316

Briefly explain why the following statement is true, false or uncertain.

Suppose you are evaluating a project such as a road where the annual benefits are increasing with calendar time. The present value (PV) of the investment costs of building the road is the same amount no matter when the road is built. In this case the net present value of the project will be increased if the date that the road is completed and ready for service is postponed.

• esearch UI Javascript Framesworks
  • Name 3 of the most utilized front end UI javascript frameworks.
  • Describe each of the frameworks and compare and contrast to other frameworks you name in your document.
  • Provide pros and cons of each of the frameworks.
  • Provide an example of a site in use today built upon each framework named in your research.
• provide atleast 3 pages

9.) Write a MATLAB script that will read the Pressure and Temperature columns from the provided Excel file. Use a loop to calculate the linear best fit line for the data. You may only use the built-in functions sum, size, and length. Plot both the individual data points (red) and the fit line (blue) on the same graph. Include a title and axes labels.

A, B:   Design and Implement a C# windows form application to ask the user for 10 integer numbers, sort them in ascending order and display the sorted list. Use bubble sort technique to sort the array elements and do not use any built-in sort method to sort the array elements.
                                                       [02]
C:    Test and evaluate your program by inputting variety of values.

When designing a new warehouse, its size is the most critical attribute. This is because once built, the outer walls of the warehouse form the boundaries within which all operations must take place.

Propose a solution in a essay form with explanations and examples, on how the cubic storage capacity of a warehouse can be increased given a fixed warehouse floor area. (warehouse management)