Question

A manager invests $20,000 in equipment that would help the company reduce it's per unit costs from $15 to $12. He expects the equipment to be in use for the next seven years. After two years, he realizes that if he outsourced the production, the unit cost would be $7 instead. At this point what should the senior manager do?

Answer 1

Since the cost of $20,000 has been incurred two years ago, the firm should check and see as to how many units of the product were produced in the two years. Did the firm produce enough items to break even the cost of acquisition. Additionally the business should also check the current market value of this two year old equipment. The business manager should weigh in the savings that is to be obtained from outsourcing along with the resale value of the old machine and then take a declension as to whether the company should go for outsourcing. Also, the business manager must examine whether the outsourcing can happen for the long run. This is because two years down the line, outsourcing may have increased the cost and again another process may look attractive. So a through cost benefit analysis should be made before taking a decision.