Problem

Mens Wear, Inc., a nationally known manufacturer of menswear, produces four varieties of ties. One is an expensive all-silk tie, one is an all-polyester tie, and two are blends of polyester and cotton. The first table below illustrates the cost and availability (per monthly production planning period) of the three materials used in the production process.

The company has fixed contracts with several major department store chains to supply ties each month. The contracts require that Mens Wear supply a minimum quantity of each tie but allow for a larger demand if Mens Wear chooses to meet that demand. (Most of the ties are not shipped with the name Mens Wear on their label, incidentally, but with private stock labels supplied by the stores.) The second table below summarizes the contract demand for each of the four styles of ties, the selling price per tie, and the fabric requirements of each variety. The production process for all ties is almost fully automated, and Mens Wear uses a standard labor cost of $0.75 per tie for any variety.

Mens Wear must decide on a policy for product mix in order to maximize its monthly profit. What is the optimal monthly profit for Mens Wear and how many ties of each type should they produce per month?

Material	Cost Per Yard	Material Available Per Month (yards)
Silk	$20	1,000
Polyester	$6	2,000
Cotton	$9	1,250

Variety of Tie	Selling Price Per Tie	Monthly Contract Minimum	Monthly Demand	Total Material Required Per Tie (yards)	Material Requirements
All silk	$6.70	6,000	7,000	0.125	100% silk
All polyester	$3.55	10,000	14,000	0.08	100% polyester
Poly-cotton blend 1	$4.31	13,000	16,000	0.10	50% polyester/50% cotton
Poly-cotton blend 2	$4.81	6,000	8,500	0.10	30% polyester/70% cotton

Develop answers to each of the questions below related to the procedure Ten Steps to Solve Decision Analysis Problems. Feel free to add more space as needed to respond to each of the ten questions.