Empire Polymer Development produces three products using three different continuous processes. The products are Yarex, Darol, and Norex. Projected sales in gallons for the three products for the years 20x2 and 20x3 are as follows:

	20x2	20x3
Yarex	133,000	143,000
Darol	93,000	83,000
Norex	63,000	73,000

• Inventories are planned for each product so that the projected finished-goods inventory at the beginning of each year is equal to 6 percent of that years projected sales.
• Because of the continuous nature of Empires processes, work-in-process inventory for each of the products remains constant throughout the year.

The raw-material requirements of the three products are shown in the following chart.

Raw Material	Units	Unit Price	Yarex	Darol	Norex
Gamma	pounds	$ 7.00	0.5	0.7	0
Murad	pounds	6.00	0.7	0	0.8
Islin	gallons	5.00	1.3	1.0	0.8
Tarden	gallons	9.00	0	0.6	0.8

• Raw-material inventories are planned so that each raw materials projected inventory at the beginning of a year is equal to 15 percent of the previous years usage of that raw material.

The conversion requirements in hours per gallon for the three products are Yarex, 0.07 hour; Darol, 0.10 hour; and Norex, 0.16 hour. The conversion cost of $20 per hour is considered 100 percent variable.

Required:

1. Determine Empire Polymer Development's production budget (in gallons) for the three products for 20x2.

2. Determine Empire Polymer Development's conversion cost budget for 20x2.

3. Assuming the 20x1 usage of Islin is 355,000 gallons, determine the companys raw-material purchases budget (in dollars) for Islin for 20x2.

4-a. Assume that for 20x2 production, Empire Polymer Development's could replace the raw material Islin with the raw material Philin. The usage of Philin would be the same as the usage of Islin. However, Philin would cost 20 percent more than Islin and would cut production times on all three products by 10 percent. Compare cost of using Philin over using Islin.

4-b. Which raw material should the management use for the 20x2 production?