Barlow Company manufactures three products$$A$,$ B$,$ and C$.$ The selling price, variable costs, and contribution margin for one unit of each product follow:

Product

A B C

Selling price $ $160$ $ $270$ $ $240$

Variable expenses:

Direct materials $168032$

Other variable expenses $10890148$

Total variable expenses $124170180$

Contribution margin $ $36$ $ $100$ $ $60$

Contribution margin ratio $23\%37\%25\%$

The same raw material is used in all three products. Barlow Company has only $6,000$ pounds of raw material on hand and will not be able to obtain any more of it for several weeks due to a strike in its supplier$$s plant. Management is trying to decide which product$($s$)$ to concentrate on next week in filling its backlog of orders. The material costs $$8$ per pound. Assuming that Barlow$$s estimated customer demand is $500$ units per product line, what is the maximum contribution margin the company can earn when using the $6,000$ pounds of raw material on hand?

$4.$ A foreign supplier could furnish Barlow with additional stocks of the raw material at a substantial premium over the usual price. Assuming Barlow$$s estimated customer demand is $500$ units per product line and that the company has used its $6,000$ pounds of raw material in an optimal fashion, what is the highest price Barlow Company should be willing to pay for an additional pound of materials?