Structuring a Make-or-Buy Problem

Fresh Foods, a large restaurant chain, needed to determine if it would be cheaper to produce 5,000 units of its main food ingredient for use in its restaurants or to purchase them from an outside supplier for $12 each. Cost information on internal production includes the following:

	Total Cost		Unit Cost
Direct materials	$25,000	$ 5.00
Direct labor	15,000	3.00
Variable manufacturing overhead	7,500	1.50
Variable marketing overhead	10,000	2.00
Fixed plant overhead	30,000	6.00
Total	$87,500	$17.50

Fixed overhead will continue whether the ingredient is produced internally or externally. No additional costs of purchasing will be incurred beyond the purchase price.

Required:

1. What are the alternatives for Fresh Foods?

Make the ingredient in house or buy it externally.

• Buy the ingredient externally and sell it in house.
• Make the ingredient in house and sell it externally.
• Make the ingredient in house or buy it externally.

2. Which alternative is more cost effective?

Make the ingredient in-house

• Buy the ingredient in-house
• Make the ingredient in-house

By how much? $

3. Now assume that 20% of the fixed overhead can be avoided if the ingredient is purchased externally. Which alternative is more cost effective?

Buy

• Buy
• Make

By how much? $