Concept explainers
Production run size and activity improvement
Littlejohn, Inc. manufactures machined parts for the automotive industry. The activity cost associated with Part XX-10 is as follows:
Activity | Activity-Base Usage |
× | Activity Rate | = | Activity Cost |
Fabrication | 250 dlh | $80per dlh | $20,000 | ||
Setup | 10 setups | $80 per setup | 800 | ||
Production control | 10 prod, runs | $30 per prod, run | 300 | ||
Moving | 10 moves | $25 per move | 250 | ||
Total activity cost per unit | $21,350 | ||||
Estimated units of production | ÷ 500 | ||||
Activity cost per unit | $ 42.70 |
Each unit requires 30 minutes of fabrication direct labor. Moreover, part XX-10 is manufactured in production run sizes of 50 units. Each production run is set up, scheduled (production control), and moved as a batch of 50 units. Management is considering improvements in the setup, production control, and moving activities in order to cut the production run sizes by half. As a result, the number of setups, production runs, and mows will double from 10 to 20. Such improvements are expected to speed the company’s ability to respond to customer orders.
• Setup is reengineered so that it takes 60% of the original cost per setup.
• Production control software will allow production control effort and cost per production run to decline by 60%.
• Moving distance was reduced by 40%, thus reducing the cost per mow by the same amount.
A. Determine the revised activity cost per unit under the proposed changes.
B. Did these improvements reduce the activity cost per unit?
C. What cost per unit for setup would be required for the solution in (A) to equal the base solution?
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Financial & Managerial Accounting
- Production run size and activity improvement Littlejohn, Inc., manufactures machined parts for the automotive industry. The activity cost associated with Part XX-10 is as follows: Each unit requires 30 minutes of fabrication direct labor. Moreover, Part XX-10 is manufactured in production run sizes of 50 units. Each production run is set up, scheduled (production control), and moved as a batch of 50 units. Management is considering improvements in the setup, production control, and moving activities in order to cut the production run sizes by half. As a result, the number of setups, production runs, and moves will double from 10 to 20. Such improvements are expected to speed the companys ability to respond to customer orders. Setup is reengineered so that it takes 60% of the original cost per setup. Production control software will allow production control effort and cost per production run to decline by 60%. Moving distance was reduced by 40%, thus reducing the cost per move by the same amount. A. Determine the revised activity cost per unit under the proposed changes. B. Did these improvements reduce the activity cost per unit? C. What cost per unit for setup would be required for the solution in (a) to equal the base solution?arrow_forwardHatch Manufacturing produces multiple machine parts. The theoretical cycle time for one of its products is 65 minutes per unit. The budgeted conversion costs for the manufacturing cell dedicated to the product are 12,960,000 per year. The total labor minutes available are 1,440,000. During the year, the cell was able to produce 0.6 units of the product per hour. Suppose also that production incentives exist to minimize unit product costs. Required: 1. Compute the theoretical conversion cost per unit. 2. Compute the applied conversion cost per minute (the amount of conversion cost actually assigned to the product). 3. Discuss how this approach to assigning conversion cost can improve delivery time performance. Explain how conversion cost acts as a performance driver for on-time deliveries.arrow_forwardAssume that at the beginning of 20x2, Cicleta trained the 2 assembly workers in a new approach that had the objective of increasing the efficiency of the assembly process. Cicleta also began moving toward a JIT purchasing and manufacturing system. When JIT is fully implemented, the demand for expediting is expected to be virtually eliminated. It is expected to take two to three years for full implementation. Assume that receiving cost is a step-fixed cost with steps of 1,500 orders. The other three activities employ resources that are acquired as used and needed. At the end of 20x2, the following results were reported for the four activities: Required: 1. Prepare a trend report that shows the non-value-added costs for each activity for 20x1 and 20x2 and the change in costs for the two periods. Discuss the reports implications. 2. Explain the role of activity reduction for receiving and for expediting. What is the expected value of SQ for each activity after JIT is fully implemented? 3. What if at the end of 20x2, the selling price of a competing product is reduced by 27 per unit? Assume that the firm produces and sells 20,000 units of its product and that its product is associated only with the four activities being considered. By virtue of the waste-reduction savings, can the competitors price reduction be matched without reducing the unit profit margin of the product that prevailed at the beginning of the year? If not, how much more waste reduction is needed to achieve this outcome? In this case, what price decision would you recommend?arrow_forward
- Use the following information for Exercises 5-44 through 5-46: The following six situations at Diviney Manufacturing Inc. are independent. a. A manual insertion process takes 30 minutes and 8 pounds of material to produce a product. Automating the insertion process requires 15 minutes of machine time and 7.5 pounds of material. The cost per labor hour is 12, the cost per machine hour is 8, and the cost per pound of materials is 10. b. With its original design, a gear requires 8 hours of setup time. By redesigning the gear so that the number of different grooves needed is reduced by 50%, the setup time is reduced by 75%. The cost per setup hour is 50. c. A product currently requires 6 moves. By redesigning the manufacturing layout, the number of moves can be reduced from 6 to 0. The cost per move is 20. d. Inspection time for a plant is 16,000 hours per year. The cost of inspection consists of salaries of 8 inspectors, totaling 320,000. Inspection also uses supplies costing 5 per inspection hour. The company eliminated most defective components by eliminating low-quality suppliers. The number of production errors was reduced dramatically by installing a system of statistical process control. Further quality improvements were realized by redesigning the products, making them easier to manufacture. The net effect was to achieve a close to zero-defect state and eliminate the need for any inspection activity. e. Each unit of a product requires 6 components. The average number of components is 6.5 due to component failure, requiring rework and extra components. Developing relations with the right suppliers and increasing the quality of the purchased component can reduce the average number of components to 6 components per unit. The cost per component is 500. f. A plant produces 100 different electronic products. Each product requires an average of 8 components that are purchased externally. The components are different for each part. By redesigning the products, it is possible to produce the 100 products so that they all have 4 components in common. This will reduce the demand for purchasing, receiving, and paying bills. Estimated savings from the reduced demand are 900,000 per year. 5-45 Driver Analysis Refer to the information for Diviney Manufacturing on the previous page. Required: CONCEPTUAL CONNECTION For each situation, identify the possible root cause(s) of the activity cost (such as plant layout, process design, and product design).arrow_forwardCarltons Kitchens makes two types of pasta makers: Strands and Shapes. The company expects to manufacture 70,000 units of Strands, which has a per-unit direct material cost of $10 and a per-unit direct labor cost of $60. It also expects to manufacture 30.000 units of Shapes, which has a per-unit material cost of $15 and a per-unit direct labor cost of $40. It is estimated that Strands will use 140,000 machine hours and Shapes will require 60,000 machine hours. Historically, the company has used the traditional allocation method and applied overhead at a rate of $21 per machine hour. It was determined that there were three cost pools, and the overhead for each cost pool is shown: The cost driver for each cost pool and its expected activity is shown: A. What is the per-unit cost for each product under the traditional allocation method? B. What is the per-unit cost for each product under ABC costing?arrow_forwardBountiful Manufacturing produces two types of bike frames (Frame X and Frame Y). Frame X passes through four processes: cutting, welding, polishing, and painting. Frame Y uses three of the same processes: cutting, welding, and painting. Each of the four processes employs 10 workers who work eight hours each day. Frame X sells for 40 per unit, and Frame Y sells for 55 per unit. Materials is the only unit-level variable expense. 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Suppose that the Engineering Department has proposed a process design change that will increase the polishing time for Frame X from 15 to 23 minutes per unit and decrease the welding time from 15 minutes to 10 minutes per unit (for Frame X). The cost of process redesign would be 10,000. Evaluate this proposed change. What step in the TOC process does this proposal represent?arrow_forward
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