Question

US Apparel (USA) manufactures plain white and solid-colored T-shirts. Budgeted inputs include the following

Price Quantity Cost per unit of output
fabric $8 per yard 0.75 yards per unit $6 per unit
labor $16 per DMLH 0.25 DMLH per unit $4 per unit
dye $0.50 per ounce 4 ounces per unit $2 per unit

For colored T-shirts only

Budgeted sales and selling price per unit is as follow:s:

Budgeted Sales Selling Price per Unit
White T-shirts 10,000 units $12 per T-shirt
Colored T-shirts 50,000 units $15 per T-shirt

The USA has the opportunity to switch from using the dye it currently uses to using an environmentally friendly dye that costs $1.25 per ounce. The company would still need 4 ounces of dye per shirt. The USA is reluctant to change because of the increase in costs (and decrease in profit), but the Environmental Protection Agency has threatened to fine the company $130,000 if it continues to use the harmful but less expensive dye

a. Given the preceding information, would the USA be better off financially by switching to the environmentally friendly dye? (Assume all other costs would remain the same.)
b. Assume the USA chooses to be environmentally responsible regardless of cost, and it switches to the new dye. The production manager suggests trying Kaizen costing. If the USA can reduce fabric and labor costs each by 1% per month on all the shirts it manufactures, by how much will overall costs decrease at the end of 12 months? (Round to the nearest dollar for calculating cost reductions.)
c. Refer to requirement 2. How could the reduction in material and labor costs be accomplished? Are there any problems with this plan?.

Answer 1

A) USA will not be better off switching to the new dye since the cost is greater than the Fine

B) $118076

C) The reduction in material/fabric cost can be achieved by the reduction in material wastage and in the use of quality materials

while the reduction in labor cost can be achieved by Hiring well trained employees with the necessary skillset

Step-by-step explanation:

A) Determine If the USA be better off using the new dye

Units of clothes to be dyed = 50,000

Difference in cost = [ 4 ( 1.25 - 0.5 ) ] = 4 * 0.75 = $3

Total cost of using the new dye = 50000 * $3 = $150,000

Fine = $130,000

hence USA will not be better off switching to the new dye since the cost is greater than the Fine

B) Determine by how much overall cost will be reduced at the end of 12 months using Kaizen costing

condition : reduce fabric and labor cost by 1%

Original Monthly Costs without the use of Kaizen Costing =( Total Units/Number of Months)*(Fabric Cost per Unit + Labor Cost per Unit)*Number of Months

= [( 10000 + 50000 )/12 ) * ( 6 + 4 ) ] *12

= [ 5000 * 10 ] *12 = $600,000

Applying kaizen costing

Given: Fabric cost per unit = $6 , Labor cost per unit = $4

Total units of production = 10000 + 50000 = 60,000

Kaizen costing formula per month = [ (cost per unit * total units / 12 ) - ( 1% of cost per unit * total units / 12) ]

Total annual cost using Kaizen costing = $56807.61

difference in cost = $600,000 - $568076 = $31924

with the new dye and Kaizen costing the overall cost will be change by $118076 i.e. ($150,000 - $31924) = $118076

C ) The reduction in material/fabric cost can be achieved by the reduction in material wastage and in the use of quality materials

while the reduction in labor cost can be achieved by Hiring well trained employees with the necessary skillset