Hi I would like to request your help since I need to know the answers to the "modern office machines" mini case and I can't find them in your page :(

Modern established a team that included representatives from engineering, account- ing, and production. The team was responsible for redesigning Modern's pencil sharpener and improving its production process to achieve a 25 percent reduction in costs over the next two years. Since the current manufacturing cost is $16, this means a cost reduction of $4 for manufacturing. The team members reviewed the design and production of the pencil sharpener at one of its meetings. They found that the sharpener is made from stainless steel casing. The shell is divided into two parts: a base and a top. The motor, blades, and bin drawer are attached to the base using 12 screws and washers. The top is then attached to the base using another four screws. All parts are assembled by hand. The motor and bin drawer are pur- chased from an outside supplier. The blades are manufactured by a blade machine. At stan- dard, the assembly takes 30 minutes per pencil sharpener. The team also met with the marketing group and reviewed that group's research on customers' expectations about features and price. Their research indicates that there are three features a customer desires in an electric pencil sharpener: speed of sharpening, ease of cleaning scrapings, and appearance. Using a five point scale, with five representing high importance, the marketing group found that customers rated speed of sharpening a four, ease of cleaning scrapings a four, and appearance a two. Modern's engineers familiar with pencil sharpeners' functioning felt that four compo- nents could address these features: motor, blade assembly, drawer, and outer casing. Motor and blade assembly contribute 75 percent and 25 percent respectively to the speed of sharp- ening. The design of the drawer is 100 percent responsible for ease of cleaning scrapings, while the appearance is 100 percent determined by the casing. They proposed a solution which would use a cheaper, less powerful motor (saving $3.00/motor) and a less expensive plastic bin drawer (saving $1.00/drawer) to meet the 25 percent cost reduction target. The accountant on the cost planning team collected information about the current actual cost of producing each of the components and other costs. Her cost data is summa- rized in Exhibit 16 below. Exhibit 16 Current Component Source Actual Cost Manufacturing costs: Motor . External supplier $ 6.40 Blade assembly Internal 3.20 Drawer External supplier 2.40 Outer casing Internal 4.00 Subtotal $16.00 Selling/distribution Internal 6.00 General and administrative Internal 3.00 Total cost... $25.00 Currently Modern's pencil sharpener sells for $27.00. This yields a return on sales of 7.4 percent. In general, the small office machinery industry gets a 15 percent return on sales. To respond to competitive pressure in past years, Modern had dropped its price from $29.40 to $27. Modern would like to capture its lost market share and go back to its 15 percent return on sales. However, analysis of competitors' prices and market response to those prices indicates that a price of $23.50 would stimulate sales and restore market position