Exercise 10-8 Utilization of a Constrained Resource [LO10-5, LO10-6]

Barlow Company manufactures three products: A, B, and C. The selling price, variable costs, and contribution margin for one unit of each product follow:

	Product
	A				B				C
Selling price	$	280			$	400			$	360
Variable expenses:
Direct materials		14				56				21
Other variable expenses		154				144				213
Total variable expenses		168				200				234
Contribution margin	$	112			$	200			$	126
Contribution margin ratio		40	%			50	%			35	%

The same raw material is used in all three products. Barlow Company has only 4,300 pounds of raw material on hand and will not be able to obtain any more of it for several weeks due to a strike in its suppliers plant. Management is trying to decide which product(s) to concentrate on next week in filling its backlog of orders. The material costs $7 per pound.

Required:

1.	Compute the amount of contribution margin that will be obtained per pound of material used in each product.

2a.	Compute the amount of contribution margin on each product.

2b.	Which order would you recommend that the company work on next weekthe orders for product A, product B, or product C?
	Product A Product B Product C

3.	A foreign supplier could furnish Barlow with additional stocks of the raw material at a substantial premium over the usual price. If there is unfilled demand for all three products, what is the highest price that Barlow Company should be willing to pay for an additional pound of materials?