Laser Impressions Inc. manufactures color laser printers. Model J$20$ presently sells for $$500$ and has a product cost of $$400,$ as

follows:

It is estimated that the competitive selling price for color laser printers of this type will drop to $$480$ next year. Laser Impressions

has established a target cost to maintain its historical markup percentage on product cost. Engineers have provided the following

cost$-$reduction ideas:

Purchase a plastic printer cover with snap$-$on assembly, rather than with screws. This will reduce the amount of direct labor by

$9$ minutes per unit.

Add an inspection step that will add six minutes per unit of direct labor but reduce the materials cost by $$10$ per unit.

Decrease the cycle time of the injection molding machine from four minutes to three minutes per part. Thirty percent of the

direct labor and $45\%$ of the factory overhead are related to running injection molding machines.

The direct labor rate is $$34$ per hour.

a$.$ Determine the target cost for Model J$20,$ assuming that the historical markup on product cost and selling price are maintained.

Round your final answer to two decimal places.

$

per unit

b$.$ Determine the required cost reduction. Round your final answer to two decimal places.

$

per unit

c$.$ Evaluate the three engineering improvements together to determine if the required cost reduction $($drift$)$ can be achieved. Do

not round interim calculations but round your final answers to two decimal places.

Direct labor reduction

$