Vista Company manufactures electronic equipment. In 2021, it purchased from an outside supplier the special switches used in each of its products. The supplier charged Vista $2 per switch. As an alternative, Vista’s CEO considered purchasing either machine A or machine B so the company could manufacture its own switches. The CEO decided at the beginning of 2022 to purchase machine A, based on the following data:

Required

1. Assume that machine A has not yet been purchased. What is the annual volume (rounded up to nearest whole number) that would make the company indifferent between the two decision alternatives (i.e., purchasing and then using machine A to make the switches versus purchasing the switches from the outside vendor)?

2. Assume that machine A has already been purchased. Is it preferable to use machine A to make the switches or to purchase the switches from the external supplier?

3. Assume that machine A has already been purchased. At what annual volume level (rounded to the nearest whole number) should Vista consider replacing machine A with machine B?

4. Use the Goal Seek function in Excel to confirm the volume-indifference level you calculated in requirement 3.

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Machine A Machine B Annual fixed cost (depreciation) Variable cost per switch $135,000 $204,000 0.65 0.30