Textbook Problem

NoFat manufactures one product, olestra, and sells it to large potato chip manufacturers as the key ingredient in nonfat snack foods, including Ruffles, Lays, Doritos, and Tostitos brand products. For each of the past 3 years, sales of olestra have been far less than the expected annual volume of 125,000 pounds. Therefore, the company has ended each year with significant unused capacity. Due to a short shelf life, NoFat must sell every pound of olestra that it produces each year. As a result, NoFat’s controller, Allyson Ashley, has decided to seek out potential special sales offers from other companies. One company, Patterson Union (PU)—a toxic waste cleanup company—offered to buy 10,000 pounds of olestra from NoFat during December for a price of $2.20 per pound. PU discovered through its research that olestra has proven to be very effective in cleaning up toxic waste locations designated as Superfund Sites by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Allyson was excited, noting that “This is another way to use our expensive olestra plant!”

The annual costs incurred by NoFat to produce and sell 100,000 pounds of olestra are as follows:

In addition, Allyson met with several of NoFat’s key production managers and discovered the following information:

• The special order could be produced without incurring any additional marketing or customer service costs.
• NoFat owns the aging plant facility that it uses to manufacture olestra.
• NoFat incurs costs to set up and clean its machines for each production run, or batch, of olestra that it produces. The total setup costs shown in the previous table represent the production of 20 batches during the year.
• NoFat leases its plant machinery. The lease agreement is negotiated and signed on the first day of each year. NoFat currently leases enough machinery to produce 125,000 pounds of olestra.
• PU requires that an independent quality team inspects any facility from which it makes purchases. The terms of the special sales offer would require NoFat to bear the $1,000 cost of the inspection team.

Describe at least one qualitative factor that NoFat should consider, in addition to the financial factors, in making its final decision regarding the acceptance or rejection of the special sales offer.