Final answer:
Kingston Manufacturing should produce 6,000 units of Product X and 5,000 units of Product Y (Option D) since this maximizes the contribution margin per labor hour. The cost of hiring a staff attorney is not relevant to this production decision.
Step-by-step explanation:
Optimal Production Schedule and Relevant Costs
To determine the best production schedule for Kingston Manufacturing, they will need to maximize their contribution margin given the labor hours available for producing Products X and Y. The company has 27,000 labor hours available. Product X requires 2 hours and yields a contribution margin of $5 per unit, making the contribution margin per labor hour $2.50. Product Y requires 3 hours and yields a contribution margin of $6 per unit, which results in a contribution margin per labor hour of $2. Since Product X offers a higher contribution margin per labor hour, the company should prioritize its production.
The optimal production schedule is to produce 6,000 units of Product X, utilizing 12,000 labor hours, and then use the remaining 15,000 labor hours to produce 5,000 units of Product Y. This is because we can calculate the units of Product Y by dividing the remaining hours by the hours required per unit (15,000 / 3 = 5,000). Option D is the correct choice, which means the answer to the first part of the question is Option D.
Regarding the second part of the question, the cost of hiring a full-time staff attorney is the only cost not directly relevant to the production decision for Products X and Y. Therefore, the correct option is a. This is because the attorney's cost is not incremental to the production but rather a fixed administrative cost that would be incurred regardless of the production decision.