An organization has to determine as to whether making and selling the products is a better option or purchasing ready-products to sell is more cost-friendly (Kotler & Armstrong, 2004). In order to do so, detailed “Make or Buy” decision-making costing techniques are required, which elaborate all the aspects of costing and present a clear picture of the feasible option. Both the scenarios are presented below:
Making the Product
Certain things are to be assumed, which are listed below:
The Selling Price is to be set at £18 per unit.
The organization has machinery that can produce 200 units in a month.
In order to reach the quantities above 600 units of production, a new machine has to be installed, which would result in the increase of factory overheads.
The “Indirect Labour Cost” was charged at were charged at £ 1000 per month till 600 unit production level and £1500 after 600 production level.
The “Indirect Labour Cost” is adjusted in the 800 units and 1000 units production column as the production would take place in 2 and 3 months respectively (2 machines are working so 800 units produced in 2 months not 4)
“Factory Overheads” were charged at £1000 per month till 600 unit production level and £1500 after 600 production level.
The calculations are presented in the Table 1 on the next page.
TABLE 1
200 Units
400 Units
600 Units
800 Units
1000 Units
Direct Materials @ £ 1.00
200
400
600
800
1000
Other Direct Costs @ £ 0.25
£ 50
£ 100
£ 150
£ 200
£ 250
Direct Labour @ £ 2.50
£ 500
£ 1,000
£ 1,500
£ 2,000
£ 2,500
Total Direct costs
£ 750
£ 1,500
£ 2,250
£ 3,000
£ 3,750
Indirect Materials
£ 50
£ 65
£ 78
£ 90
£ 100
Indirect Labour
£ 1,000
£ 2,000
£ 3,000
£ 6,000
£ 7,500
Advertising
£ 50
£ 150
£ 250
£ 350
£ 500
Factory Overhead
£ 1,000
£ 2,000
£ 3,000
£ 6,000
£ 7,500
Total of Indirect costs
£ 2,100
£ 4,215
£ 6,328
£ 12,440
£ 15,600
Total of Direct + Indirect Costs
£ 2,850
£ 5,715
£ 8,578
£ 15,440
£ 19,350
Buying the Product
Certain things are to be assumed, which are listed below:
The Selling Price will remain £18 per unit.
The organization will be purchasing the readymade products at £12 per product.
Other adjustment costs include the cost of branding and packaging.
The “Direct Labour Cost” is the labour cost of packaging.
Advertising cost remains the same.
“Factory Overheads” reduce as expenses like major heating lighting, depreciation and other expenses are not to be incurred any more.
The calculations are presented in the Table 2 on the next page.
TABLE 2
200 Units
400 Units
600 Units
800 Units
1000 Units
Purchasing Readymade Product @ £ 9
2400
4800
7200
9600
12000
Other Product Adjustment Costs @ £ 0.5
£ 100
£ 200
£ 300
£ 400
£ 500
Direct Labour @ £ 0.75
£ 150
£ 300
£ 450
£ 600
£ 750
Advertising
£ 50
£ 150
£ 250
£ 350
£ 500
Factory Overhead
£ 250
£ 500
£ 750
£ 1,000
£ 1,250
Total Costs
£ 2,950
£ 5,950
£ 8,950
£ 11,950
£ 15,000
Costing Technique
The costing technique used is Marginal Costing. This is because the marginal costing provides a good picture for comparison of two or more aspects of calculating costs (Hisrich & Peters, 2001, p. 87-90). Marginal Costing also enables the decision makers to calculate the breakeven point easily as it provides fixed costs and variable costs separately. The technique is presented in Table 1 by splitting the costs ...