IPort Products makes cases for portable music players in two processes, cutting and sewing. The cutting process has a capacity of 150,000 units per year; sewing has a capacity of 180,000 units per year. Cost information follows:
Inspection and testing costs . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 90,000
Scrap costs (all in the cutting dept.) . . . . . . 195,000
Demand is very strong. At a sales price of $20 per case, the company can sell whatever output it can produce. IPort Products can start only 150,000 units into production in the Cutting Department because of capacity constraints. Defective units are detected at the end of production in the Cutting Department. At that point, defective units are scrapped. Of the 150,000 units started at the cutting operation, 22,500 units are scrapped. Unit costs in the Cutting Department for both good and defective units equal $16 per unit, including an allocation of the total fixed manufacturing costs of $900,000 per year to units.
Direct materials (variable) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 5
Direct manufacturing, setup, and materials handling labor (variable) . . . . 2
Depreciation, rent, and other overhead (fixed) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Total unit cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $13
The fixed cost of $9 per unit is the allocation of the total fixed costs of the Cutting Department to each unit, whether good or defective. (The total fixed costs are the same whether the units produced in the Cutting Department are good or defective.)
The good units from the Cutting Department are sent to the Sewing Department. Variable manufacturing costs in the Sewing Department are $3 per unit and fixed manufacturing costs are $75,000 per year. There is no scrap in the Sewing Department. Therefore, the company's total sales quantity equals the Cutting Department's good output. The company incurs no other variable costs.
The company's designers have discovered a new type of direct material that would reduce scrap in the Cutting Department to 7,500 units. However, using the new material would in- crease the direct materials costs to $7.25 per unit in the Cutting Department for all 150,000 units. Recall that only 150,000 units can be started each year.

Required
a. Should IPort use the new material and improve quality? Assume that inspection and testing costs will be reduced by $30,000 if the new material is used. Fixed costs in the Sewing Department will remain the same whether 127,500 or 142,500 units are produced.
b. What other nonfinancial and qualitative factors should management of IPort Products consider in making the decision?