Midwest Office Products

2. Fulfillment costs increased from $2.50 to $2.53 due to a higher than expected cost of opening the new distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona.

St. Louis is the only one showing any improvement, using cost per unit shipped as the performance criterion. The cost for the first five months of 2003 was $9.97 and for the first five months of 2004, it fell to $9.07.

1. How would you classify Forest Hill Paper Company in terms of size and ownership?

Note the 2 in the denominator. That is because, on average, the rented warehouse space is only half full, which, makes the average warehousing cost per keg be $2.

The product cost per unit under absorption costing is $15.00 and under variable costing are 10.60.

4. Assuming a 20% gross margin for each printer, sea transportation costs of $1 per printer and air transportation costs of $10 per printer (air shipment lead-time is three days), evaluate the various alternatives available to Brent Cartier to address the inventory and service problem.

Dong Hai Supply Annual Inventory Carrying Cost = 0.322 * ((24,037*80.11) + (24,037/551)*182) = $622,601.

330-10-30330-10-30-1 The primary basis of accounting for inventories is cost, which has been defined generally as the price paid or consideration given to acquire an asset. As applied to inventories, cost means in principle the sum of the applicable expenditures and charges directly or indirectly incurred in bringing an article to its existing condition and location. It is understood to mean acquisition and production cost, and its determination involves many considerations. 330-10-30330-10-30-2 Although principles for the determination of inventory costs may be easily stated, their application, particularly to such inventory items as work in process and finished goods, is difficult because of the variety of considerations in the allocation of costs and charges.

= Unit Selling Price – Unit Variable Cost = $9.00 – ($1.25 + $0.35 + $1.00) = $6.40

Management has decided that the suggested retail price for the 8-ounce can to the consumer will be $1.00. The only unit variable costs for the product are $0.36 for materials and $0.12 for labor. The

Therefore the purchasing department will be able to reduce the cost to more efficient and effective process and it will be able to deliver better process.

With the same inventory levels, whether in a store or in a warehouse, the warehouse can drive the cost of this up, beyond that of in a store. Service charges are a cause of this inflated cost. The advantage the warehouse option has here, is there is plenty of space available to keep extra inventory versus what a store can hold, to guarantee a cushion of product in order to fill any customer demands. Also, centralizing stock allows easier monitoring of the stock levels for different products and due to service levels implemented in a warehouse, inventory checks can be easier in the warehouse.

It is evident in the Dakota Office Products case that there is a wide variety of product created by Dakota that is shipped to their customers. That, paired with the fact that there are high overhead costs related to the desktop delivery option, also tells the reader that an incorrect accounting system is currently being used. One needs only to look at the profitability difference between Customer A & B. Currently, there is no difference in the way that the size of orders are priced. In their current system, only the larger orders create a profit for the customer.

shipments x 500$ 70 nr. shipments x 500$ 220 nr. shipments x 500$ number of units per batch total overhead cost overhead cost / unit cost per unit

The cost in transportation rates will increase for MARS Inc. with this change. The Portland supplier’s location to MARS Inc. based on the current situation charges “per hundredweight is $10 for carload lots of 50,000 pounds. The less than carload rate is $15 per hundredweight.” While anything coming from the Columbus supplier was offered just-in-time delivery service at no charge to MARS Inc. Also, this will affect the EOQ’s because dealing with the Columbus supplier they were located close enough that they offered JIT delivery which allowed the reduction minimizing “work-in-process inventories (waste) by reducing lot sizes in order to increase production efficiency and product quality.” Now, with the change, it will force MARS Inc. to spend money on warehousing and carrying cost due to the one week replenishment cycle the Portland supplier has.