Laser Impression, Inc., manufactures color laser. Model J20 presently sells for $360 and loss a total product cost of $288, as follows:

Direct material ........ $218

Direct labor ......... 50

Factory overhead ........ 20

Total ............ $288

It is estimated that the competitive selling price for color laser printer of this type will drop to $340 next year. Laser impression has established a target cost to maintain its historical markup percentage on product cost. Engineers have provided the following cost reduction ideas:

1. Purchase a plastic printer cover with snap-on assembly, rather than with screws. This will reduce the amount of direct labor by 12 minutes per unit.

2. Add an inspection step that will add six minutes per unit of direct labor but reduce the materials cost by $7 per unit.

3. Decrease the cycle time of the injection molding machine from four minutes to three minutes per part. Forty percent of the direct labor and 42% of the factory overhead are related to running injection molding machines.

The direct labor rate is $25 per unit.

(a) Determine the target cost for Model J20 assuming that the historical markup on product cost is maintained.

(b) Determine the required cost reduction.

(c) Evaluate the three engineering improvements together to determine if the required cost reduction (drift) can be achieved.