Hepworth Communications produces cell phones. One of the four major electronic components is produced internally. The other three components are purchased from external suppliers. The electronic components and other parts are assembled (by the Assembly Department) and then tested (by the Testing Department). Any units that fail the test are sent to the Rework Department where the unit is taken apart and the failed component is replaced. Data from the Testing Department reveal that the internally produced component (made by the Component Department) is the most frequent cause of product failure. One out of every 50 phones fails because of a faulty internally produced component.
Barry Norton is the manager of the Component Department. In a recent performance evaluation, the plant manager told Barry that he needed to be more sensitive to the needs of the department’s customers. This charge puzzled Barry somewhat—after all, the component is not sold to anyone but is used in producing the plant’s cell phones.
Required:
- 1. Who are Barry’s customers?
- 2. Explain the plant manager’s charge to Barry to be more sensitive to his customers. Explain also how this increased sensitivity could improve the company’s time-based competitive ability.
- 3. What role would cost management play in helping Barry be more sensitive to his customers?
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- Sound Tek Inc. manufactures electronic stereo equipment. The manufacturing process includes printed circuit (PC) board assembly, final assembly, testing, and shipping. In the PC board assembly operation, a number of individuals are responsible for assembling electronic components into printed circuit boards. Each operator is responsible for soldering components according to a given set of instructions. Operators work on batches of 50 printed circuit boards. Each board requires 4 minutes of board assembly time. After each batch is completed, the operator moves the assembled boards to the final assembly area. This move takes 12 minutes to complete. The final assembly for each stereo unit requires 19 minutes and is also done in batches of 50 units. A batch of 50 stereos is moved into the test building, which is across the street. The move takes 20 minutes. Before conducting the test, the test equipment must be set up for the particular stereo model. The test setup requires 30 minutes. The…arrow_forwardThe following activities are carried out in Greenberry Company, a manufacturer of consumer goods.a. Direct labor workers assemble a product.b. Engineers design a new product.c. A machine is set up to process a batch.d. Numerically controlled machines cut and shape materials.e. The personnel department trains new employees concerning company policies.f. Raw materials are moved from the receiving dock to the production line.g. A random sample of 10 units in each batch is inspected for defects.Required:1. Classify each activity as a unit-level, batch-level, product-level, or facility-level cost.2. Provide at least one example of an allocation base (i.e., activity measure) that could be used to allocatethe cost of each activity listed above.arrow_forwardSound Tek Inc. manufactures electronic stereo equipment. The manufacturing process includes printed circuit (PC) board assembly, final assembly, testing, and shipping. In the PC board assembly operation, a number of individuals are responsible for assembling electronic components into printed circuit boards. Each operator is responsible for soldering components according to a given set of instructions. Operators work on batches of 45 printed circuit boards. Each board requires 5 minutes of board assembly time. After each batch is completed, the operator moves the assembled boards to the final assembly area. This move takes 10 minutes to complete. The final assembly for each stereo unit requires 15 minutes and is also done in batches of 45 units. A batch of 45 stereos is moved into the test building, which is across the street. The move takes 20 minutes. Before conducting the test, the test equipment must be set up for the particular stereo model. The test setup requires 25 minutes. The…arrow_forward
- GroFast Company manufactures a high-quality fertilizer, which is used primarily by commercial veg-etable growers. Two departments are involved in the production process. In the Mixing Department, various chemicals are entered into production. After processing, the Mixing Department transfers a chemical called Chemgro to the Finishing Department. There the product is completed, packaged, and shipped under the brand name Vegegro. Various chemicals --> Mixing Dept (Chemgro)-->Finishing Dept (Vegegro) ---> In the Mixing Department, the raw material is added at the beginning of the process. Labor and overhead are applied continuously throughout the process. All direct departmental overhead is traced to the departments, and plant overhead is allocated to the departments on the basis of direct-labor. The plant overhead rate for 20x2 is $.40 per direct-labor dollar. The following information relates to production during November 20x2 in the Mixing Department. a. Work in process,…arrow_forwardReducir, Inc., produces two different types of hydraulic cylinders. Reducir produces a major subassembly for the cylinders in the Cutting and Welding Department. Other parts and the subassembly are then assembled in the Assembly Department. The activities, expected costs, and drivers associated with these two manufacturing processes are given below. Note: In the assembly process, the materials-handling activity is a function of product characteristics rather than batch activity. Other overhead activities, their costs, and drivers are listed below. Other production information concerning the two hydraulic cylinders is also provided: Required: 1. Using a plantwide rate based on machine hours, calculate the total overhead cost assigned to each product and the unit overhead cost. 2. Using activity rates, calculate the total overhead cost assigned to each product and the unit overhead cost. Comment on the accuracy of the plantwide rate. 3. Calculate the global consumption ratios. 4. Calculate the consumption ratios for welding and materials handling (Assembly) and show that two drivers, welding hours and number of parts, can be used to achieve the same ABC product costs calculated in Requirement 2. Explain the value of this simplification. 5. Calculate the consumption ratios for inspection and engineering, and show that the drivers for these two activities also duplicate the ABC product costs calculated in Requirement 2.arrow_forwardAKL Foundry manufactures metal components for different kinds of equipment used by the aerospace, commercial aircraft, medical equipment, and electronic industries. The company uses investment casting to produce the required components. Investment casting consists of creating, in wax, a replica of the final product and pouring a hard shell around it. After removing the wax, molten metal is poured into the resulting cavity. What remains after the shell is broken is the desired metal object ready to be put to its designated use. Metal components pass through eight processes: gating, shell creating, foundry work, cutoff, grinding, finishing, welding, and strengthening. Gating creates the wax mold and clusters the wax pattern around a sprue (a hole through which the molten metal will be poured through the gates into the mold in the foundry process), which is joined and supported by gates (flow channels) to form a tree of patterns. In the shell-creating process, the wax molds are alternately dipped in a ceramic slurry and a fluidized bed of progressively coarser refractory grain until a sufficiently thick shell (or mold) completely encases the wax pattern. After drying, the mold is sent to the foundry process. Here, the wax is melted out of the mold, and the shell is fired, strengthened, and brought to the proper temperature. Molten metal is then poured into the dewaxed shell. Finally, the ceramic shell is removed, and the finished product is sent to the cutoff process, where the parts are separated from the tree by the use of a band saw. The parts are then sent to the grinding process, where the gates that allowed the molten metal to flow into the ceramic cavities are ground off using large abrasive grinders. In the finishing process, rough edges caused by the grinders are removed by small handheld pneumatic tools. Parts that are flawed at this point are sent to welding for corrective treatment. The last process uses heat to treat the parts to bring them to the desired strength. In 20X1, the two partners who owned AKL Foundry decided to split up and divide the business. In dissolving their business relationship, they were faced with the problem of dividing the business assets equitably. Since the company had two plantsone in Arizona and one in New Mexicoa suggestion was made to split the business on the basis of geographic location. One partner would assume ownership of the plant in New Mexico, and the other would assume ownership of the plant in Arizona. However, this arrangement had one major complication: the amount of WIP inventory located in the Arizona plant. The Arizona facilities had been in operation for more than a decade and were full of WIP. The New Mexico facility had been operational for only 2 years and had much smaller WIP inventories. The partner located in New Mexico argued that to disregard the unequal value of the WIP inventories would be grossly unfair. Unfortunately, during the entire business history of AKL Foundry, WIP inventories had never been assigned any value. In computing the cost of goods sold each year, the company had followed the policy of adding depreciation to the out-of-pocket costs of direct labor, direct materials, and overhead. Accruals for the company are nearly nonexistent, and there are hardly ever any ending inventories of materials. During 20X1, the Arizona plant had sales of 2,028,670. The cost of goods sold is itemized as follows: Upon request, the owners of AKL provided the following supplementary information (percentages are cumulative): Gating had 10,000 units in BWIP, 60% complete. Assume that all materials are added at the beginning of each process. During the year, 50,000 units were completed and transferred out. The ending inventory had 11,000 unfinished units, 60% complete. Required: 1. The partners of AKL want a reasonable estimate of the cost of WIP inventories. Using the gating departments inventory as an example, prepare an estimate of the cost of the EWIP. What assumptions did you make? Did you use the FIFO or weighted average method? Why? (Note: Round unit cost to two decimal places.) 2. Assume that the shell-creating process has 8,000 units in BWIP, 20% complete. During the year, 50,000 units were completed and transferred out. (Note: All 50,000 units were sold; no other units were sold.) The EWIP inventory had 8,000 units, 30% complete. Compute the value of the shell-creating departments EWIP. What additional assumptions had to be made?arrow_forward
- Lead timeSound Tek Inc. manufactures electronic stereo equipment. Themanufacturing process includes printed circuit (PC) board assembly,final assembly, testing, and shipping. In the PC board assemblyoperation, a number of individuals are responsible for assembling electronic components into printed circuit boards. Each operator isresponsible for soldering components according to a given set ofinstructions. Operators work on batches of 45 printed circuit boards.Each board requires 5 minutes of board assembly time. After each batchis completed, the operator moves die assembled boards to the finalassembly area. This move takes 10 minutes to complete. The final assembly for each stereo unit requires 15 minutes and is alsodone in batches of 45 units. A batch of 45 stereos is moved into the testbuilding, which is across the street. The move takes 20 minutes. Beforeconducting the test, the test equipment must be set up for the particularstereo model. The test setup requires 25 minutes. The…arrow_forwardHedwig Optical makes three models of binoculars: Travel, Sport, and Pro. The models differ by the size of the casing and the quality of the optics. The binoculars are produced in two departments. The Assembly Department purchases components from vendors and assembles them into binoculars. The Travel and Sport models are complete and ready for sale after completing the assembly process. The Pro model undergoes further processing in the Calibration Department, which is actually just a small area in the same building as the Assembly Department. Conversion costs in both the Assembly Department and Calibration Department are based on the number of units produced. There are never any work-in-process inventories. Data for production in January are shown in the following table: Units produced Materials cost Conversion costs Assembly Calibration Total conversion costs Travel Sport Pro Total Cost Per Unit 36,000 $ 1,648,000 $ 440,000 44,400 $ 484,400 Travel Sport 13,500 Pro 4,500 18,000 $…arrow_forwardO Hedwig Optical makes three models of binoculars: Travel, Sport, and Pro. The models differ by the size of the casing and the quality of the optics. The binoculars are produced in two departments. The Assembly Department purchases components from vendors and assembles them into binoculars. The Travel and Sport models are complete and ready for sale after completing the assembly process. The Pro model undergoes further processing in the Calibration Department, which is actually just a small area in the same building as the Assembly Department. Conversion costs in both the Assembly Department and Calibration Department are based on the number of units produced. There are never any work-in-process inventories. Data for production in January are shown in the following table: Units produced Materials cost Conversion costs Assembly Calibration Total conversion costs Travel Sport Pro Total 35,000 $ 1,645,000 Cost Per Unit $ 440,000 44,400 $ 484,400 Travel 17,500 Sport 13,125 4,375 $ 305,000…arrow_forward
- SureRock Inc. manufactures curling rocks which are used worldwide in curling rinks and for bonspiels and tournaments. SureRock has a single production department, the Assembly department, which is highly automated to ensure that the curling rocks are of consistent quality. Production begins by the introduction of all the raw materials (granite, electronic sensors, plastics, and adhesives) that are added at the beginning of the process and ends when the completed rock is polished and loaded into individual crates. The rocks are then transferred to the shipping department. Direct labour and manufacturing overhead are added continuously throughout the process. e Prior to October, when a change in the manufacturing process was implements, production increased significantly. One of the polishing machines was incorrectly calibrated, and it was found that some of the curling rocks incurred small cracks in the granite as a result. Normally, SureRock allows for 2% of good rocks produced. e The…arrow_forwardModern Building Solutions (MBS) builds portable buildings to clients’ specifications. The firm has two departments: Parts Fabrication and Assembly. The Parts Fabrication Department designs and cuts the major components of the building and is highly automated. The Assembly Department assembles and installs the components and this department is highly labor intensive. The Assembly Department begins work on the buildings as soon as the floor components are available from the Parts Fabrication Department. In its first month of operations (March 2013), MBS obtained contracts for three buildings: Job 1: a 20-by 40-foot storage building Job 2: a 35-foot commercial utility building Job 3: a 30-by 40-foot portable classroom MBS bills its customers on a cost-plus basis, with profit set equal to 25 percent of costs. The firm uses a job order costing system based on normal costs. Overhead is applied in Parts Fabrication at a predetermined rate of P100 per machine hour (MH). In the Assembly…arrow_forwardHusky Ltd. manufactures toys using a continuous production process that flows through two departments: Forming and Finishing. In the forming department, various components are built and are transferred to the finishing department. In the finishing department, those components are assembled into Husky’s final product and once finished, are transferred to Husky’s Finished Goods Inventory. Any spoilage is detected at the end of the process (i.e. when the toys are 100% complete). Husky uses the FIFO method of accounting for costs. In the Finishing Department, Direct materials are added at 70% of conversion and conversion costs are added evenly throughout the process. Finishing DepartmentPhysical UnitsTransferred InDirect Materials Conversion Work in Process January 1 37,000 $ 76,400 $ 0 $ 30,062Degree of Completion in beginning WIP 65%Units Transferred in from Forming in January 232,500Good Units Transferred Out 240,000Work In Process January 31 24,000Normal Spoilage as a percentage of…arrow_forward
- Cornerstones of Cost Management (Cornerstones Ser...AccountingISBN:9781305970663Author:Don R. Hansen, Maryanne M. MowenPublisher:Cengage LearningManagerial Accounting: The Cornerstone of Busines...AccountingISBN:9781337115773Author:Maryanne M. Mowen, Don R. Hansen, Dan L. HeitgerPublisher:Cengage Learning