Production analysis

Prototypes of three gadgets were produced by Research and Development (R&D) teams that consisted of engineers, hardware technicians, and software technicians. It is standard practice for Acmes R&D team members to focus on several projects at once as determined by the needs of the project and each team members specific expertise. To recover the Full Time Equivalents required for the production of each Gadget, Acme tracks the number of hours that engineers, hardware technicians and software technicians dedicate to each project by hours per FTE. The following data was collected during the production of the prototypes:

Gadget	Hours per Engineering FTE	Hours per Hardware Tech FTE	Hours per Software Tech FTE	Total Number of hours to produce prototypes of each Gadget Type	Number of prototypes produced
A	25	45	25	1,000	20,000
B	195	30	30	1,500	25,000
C	62	58	98	2,000	16,000

From the production data, determine the number of Engineer FTEs, Hardware Technician FTEs and Software Technician FTEs needed to create the prototypes of Gadget A, Gadget B and Gadget C. Using this information complete the table below.

Gadget	Engineering FTE/ Gadget	Hardware Technician FTE/ Gadget	Software Technician FTE/ Gadget
A
B
C

Pricing Analysis

Acmes Marketing team has established a MSRP for each gadget based on the feedback of consumers and tech journalists that were selected to review the prototype gadgets. The MSRP has been set as $449, $499, and $425 for Gadgets A, B and C respectively. Acmes sales team wishes to establish a net price (to retailers) that will allow retailers a series of markdowns for the gadget, first by 15% during regular sale periods (to occur up to 3 times a year), with room for a second discount of 10% during special sale periods (Black Friday and Boxing Day), while still allowing the retailer a mark-up of at least 20% over the net price. Find the maximum net price for each gadget and determine how this net price impacts the breakeven analysis below.

Financing Analysis

In order to launch the new gadget line, Acme is securing investor financing to cover the first year of fixed costs from private investors. A first private investor is willing to loan Acme the funds needed to cover the fixed costs associated with producing the chosen gadget to be paid back over 12 equal payments, with a fixed cost of borrowing of $1,350,000; that is, the lender will charge a fixed dollar amount of $1,350,000 for the loan regardless of the principle borrowed. A second investor is willing to loan the money under a simple interest payment plan of 2.5% interest but requires the loan be repaid in 6 months. Given that Acme will have to borrow Y dollars, provide Acme with a detailed comparison of the financing options and determine how each impacts the breakeven analysis below.

Breakeven analysis

The following Cost and Sales projections were captured by the Acmes production and Sales/Marketing teams.

Table : Projected costs

Gadget	Factory Set-up ($/year)	Utilities ($/year)	Property Taxes ($/year)	Salary - Engineers $/FTE	Salary Hardware technician $/FTE	Salary Software technician $/FTE	Financing costs ($/year)
A	10,000,000	50,000	25,000	185,000	150,000	120,000	TBD
B	7,500,000	50,000	25,000	185,000	150,000	120,000	TBD
C	12,500,000	50,000	25,000	185,000	150,000	120,000	TBD

Table : Projected sales

Gadget	Production Capacity (Units/year)	Target Sales at 50% production Capacity (Units/year)	Target Sales at 75% production Capacity (Units/year)	Target Sales at 100% production Capacity (Units/year)	MSRP	Net Price
A	250,000	125 000	187,500	250,000	449	TBD
B	150,000	75,000	112,500	150,000	499	TBD
C	1,000,000	500,000	750,000	1,000,000	425	TBD