Borges Machine Shop, Inc., has a 1-year contract for the production of

250,000

gear housings for a new off-road vehicle. Owner Luis Borges hopes the contract will be extended and the volume increased next year. Borges has developed costs for three alternatives. They are general-purpose equipment (GPE), flexible manufacturing system (FMS), and expensive, but efficient, dedicated machine (DM). The cost data follow:

	General-Purpose Equipment (GPE)	Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS)	Dedicated Machine (DM)
Annual contracted units	250,000	250,000	250,000
Annual fixed cost	$125,000	$250,000	$525,000
Per unit variable cost	$15.00	$14.00	$13.00

The option GPE is best when the contracted volume is below

nothing

units (enter your response as a whole number).