Smoothie Citrus Company buys a variety of citrus fruit from growers and then processes the fruit into a product line of fresh fruit, juices, and fruit flavorings. The most recent year’s sales revenue was

\($4,400,000\). Variable costs were 60 percent of sales and fixed costs totaled \($1,400,000\). Smoothie is evaluating two alternatives designed to enhance profitability.

¢ One staff member has proposed that Smoothie purchase more automated processing equipment.

This strategy would increase fixed costs by \($300,000\) but decrease variable costs to 54 percent of sales.

¢ Another staff member has suggested that Smoothie rely more on outsourcing for fruit processing.

This would reduce fixed costs by \($300,000\) but increase variable costs to 65 percent of sales.

Required

a. What is the current break-even point in sales dollars?

b. Assuming an income tax rate of 34 percent, what dollar sales volume is currently required to obtain an after-tax profit of $500,000?

c. In the absence of income taxes, at what sales volume will both alternatives (automation and outsourcing) provide the same profit?

d. Briefly describe one strength and one weakness of both the automation and the outsourcing alternatives.