Reynolds Manufacturing Company manufactures a product that is processed in three sequential departments. Lately, the competition in
Question:
Reynolds Manufacturing Company manufactures a product that is processed in three sequential departments. Lately, the competition in the industry has become very intense as many foreign manufacturers have introduced their product in the international market at lower prices.
Management at Reynolds is considering process improvement. They have been told by a sales representative of a manufacturing equipment company that introduction of state-of-art equipment and several other measures in processing department #1 can significantly reduce the per unit cost of processing. This would allow competitive pricing of their finished product. Cost reduction will be accomplished by eliminating material waste and eliminating direct labor cost (the new equipment will perform many functions that previously required manual labor).
The new system will cost $ 6,320,000 and will have a useful life of ten years. Accordingly, new equipment and other measures were introduced on a trial basis. Management is eager to find out if this change will yield the desired results. At the end of the trial month, the cost per equivalent unit figures for the following partial cost of production report in Process #1 prepared by the company accountant were made available.
Process #1
| Beginning Work in Process (100% Material, 75% Conversion) | 60,000 units |
| Units Started during the month | 40,000 units |
| Units to account for | 100,000 units |
EQUIVALENT UNITS
| Number of units | Direct Material | Conversion | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total number of units completed | 85,000 units | 85,000 | 85,000 |
| Ending Work in Process (100% Material, 80% Conversion) | 15,000 units | 15,000 | 12,000 |
| Units accounted for | 100,000 units | 100,000 | 97,000 |
| Direct materials | Conversion | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost of Beginning Work in Process | $ 300,000 | $ 450,000 | $ 750,000 |
| Cost incurred this month | $ 160,000 | $ 116,000 | $ 276,000 |
| Total Cost | $ 460,000 | $ 566,000 | $1,026,000 |
| Divided by Equivalent Units | / | / | |
| 100,000 | 97,000 | ||
| = | $ 4.60 | $ 5.84 | $ 10.44 |
Company CEO and the foreman in charge of the department are not very impressed by the performance of the new system as they see no significant difference in the cost per equivalent unit of processing from what it was previously. They are wondering if such a huge investment is justified when the company is under intensive competitive pressure. However, the sales representative insists that other companies who have purchased this system have experienced significant reduction in cost of processing. You are a management consultant retained by the company. You have been asked to look into this issue and make a recommendation to the CEO of the company.
Cost accounting requires a deep and wide analysis of the company operation. It relates the analysis of the effect to the cost per equivalent unit of adding new machines for the improvement of company processes.
Expert Answer:
Solution In the question total of this month cost should be 276000160000116000 and total cost to be ... View the full answer
