Final answer:
The question involves inventory management, specifically the calculation of economic order quantity, safety stock, and lead time in the context of a business. It demonstrates the application of concepts like production costs and economies of scale to optimize operations and cost management.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student's question involves inventory management in the context of a business that utilizes microchips in its operations. The problem at hand requires an understanding of economic order quantity (EOQ), safety stock, and lead time.
When considering the given annual demand, carrying cost, and ordering cost, we must calculate the EOQ, which determines the optimal number of units to order to minimize total inventory costs. Additionally, maintaining a safety stock of 1500 units is a strategy to prevent stockouts due to supplier delivery issues.
The lead time of ten days influences the reordering point, ensuring an order is placed in time before the inventory depletes to the safety stock level. Using these concepts, we can address issues of inventory turnover and ensure smooth operational efficiency.
Relevant examples from the provided reference information include the computer company and its production costs, which illustrate the idea of fixed and marginal costs in the context of producing goods. Another example is the concept of economies of scale as represented by the average cost of producing alarm clocks decreasing with increased output in factories of different sizes. This concept can be related to inventory management because both involve the optimization of costs and efficiency in production and operations.
Overall, this scenario is a practical application of business management principles aimed at optimizing inventory levels, which in turn, impacts the overall operations and cost management of a company.