CASE

When Mr. Jamilur Rahman, arrived at his office at FARR Ceramics Production Division on June 4, 2019, he was satisfied to see the month to month performance report for May resting on his desk. His responsibility as Factory Manager was to investigate the after-effects of tasks of every month and to set up a detailed report on tasks that should have been sent to the corporate office of FARR Ceramics. During May 2019, the scenario at the division had been very tensed due to the declining order and a monthly report would give the chance to discover how things were for a noteworthy clients order.

The Current Scenario

FARR Ceramics manufactures a cup of a special design, called Brillance Fleurs Sauvages Combi cup that is sold to a household appliance manufacturer Rosenthal GmbH. Rosenthal GmbH is a German retailer of porcelain and other household goods owned since 2009 by the Italian group Sambonet Paderno Industrie. Rosenthal has a rolling order of fixed quantity, 216,000 units/ year for this cup with FARR Ceramics since 2011. However, from January 2019, FARR was struggling to supply the required quantity each month due to the operational issues entrenched within their production schematic. Moreover, what was even more concerning was that FARR was receiving a lower order quantity than their budgeted amount from Rosenthal.

Barely any progress had been made in both the organization's working methods and frameworks. This is because FARR wanted to explore how well they were being able to adjust to the improved production techniques implemented at the factory.

The production of 1 cup takes around 0.4 hours. The manufacturing process consists of all standard stages like automatic and semi-automatic forming of products, low-pressure casting, high-pressure casting, biscuit firing in two hours, fully automatic glazing, glost firing, decoration firing at the last stage. Keeping up an ideal quality level is the prime target and an exceptional consideration is given to forestall any sort of item defilement. The plant additionally has a well-prepared testing and quality control research center. Well-prepared designers and modelers cooperate to administer during the generation procedure to appear the structured imagined by them. Additionally, incorporated production arranging and stock administration are embraced to guarantee client support.

Experienced staff and sound innovative workgroup give FARR an extra scope of predominance as a noticeable producer in the market. The greater part of the specialized workforce has received training in Italy and Germany. Foreign specialists are serving at the manufacturing plant and adding to the improvement.

Mr. Rahman, a graduate of business administration, was transferred from the head office to the production line in Gazipur during April. Mr. Junaid Khan, also from FARR corporate office, transferred as the new division director for international markets in late April.

The main reason, why Rahman was relocated to the factory, is to oversee and deal with the problem the factory was facing due to operational issues, which caused them to have backlogs in productions and order delivery. The factory operational issue is one of the main reasons why Rosenthal has greatly reduced the number of orders they are placing at FARR.

Besides, the increase in raw material prices and delays from suppliers also added to the backlog of orders posing the second reason for order decline. Due to the decline in order quantity, Rahman had requested that the factory accountant collect the May numbers as fast as he could. However, the prompt response from the accountant beats his expectations. At the corporate office, it takes a few working days to have the monthly. The accountant at the factory had guaranteed Rahman that he would prepare the performance report in one day with some extra time work.

The international division had drafted a budget for 2019 for Rosenthal's order for the cup, in light of the sales unit and cost of production. Since sales are independent of any fluctuations, the month to month budget could simply be calculated by considering just one-twelfth of the annual plan. No changes had been made to the May budget when the order quantity was declined in January.

A look at the performance report affirmed Rahman's most exceedingly awful feelings. Rather than a planned profit of Tk 91,200, the report demonstrated the division made a loss of Tk7,200 in May. Taking into consideration the declining order, he considered an improved trend than demonstrated by the performance report. The factory accountant had connected the accompanying notice to the report: June 6, 12:00 noon

Please find attached the performance report for May. The profit figure is not as what we estimated it to be. It is to be noted that other than supervision costs most of the costs are under budget or at par almost. The unfavorable variance of costs associated with factory supervision was achieved by controlling other costs.

Work in Progress and finished goods inventory at the beginning and end of the month are zero.

Per unit standard costs used in budgeting this year were: Direct material Tk. 6 and Direct labor Tk. 16

It requires 130 grams (0.13 kg) of euro fine porcelain and 0.40 labor hour to produce one cup. Euro porcelain is a specialized material used in the ceramic product. Farr's estimated cost per kg of euro porcelain Taka 46. During the month, Farr purchased 1,820 kg of raw materials at the rate of Taka 46.92 per kg to produce 14,000 cups. All of the materials purchased were used for production. There were no ending raw materials.

During the month the company recorded 5,467 direct labor hours at an hourly rate of Taka 45 to produce 14,000 units of products. Budgeted cost of labor per hour was Taka 40 (direct labor cost per Unit 16/0.40 hour required to produce one unit)

QUESTIONS

1. The factory accountants performance analysis report has been presented to Mr. Rahman. Using Table I, comment on the findings. Suggest areas of improvement before it is sent to the head office of FARR ceramics that the manager may like to be reflected in this analysis. (Hints: it might be useful to look into the material price and quantity variances and labor rate and efficiency variances)

2. What is the implication on non-variable manufacturing cost if the decline in order by Rosenthal continues? Prepare a sensitivity analysis considering the declining order trend and suggest FARR Ceramics possible ways of improving their current performance. Mr. Expert, I need a fresh and accurate answer and please don't skip any questions.