The Scenario The company is considering three nut mixes for inclusion in the new product line: Regular Mix, Deluxe Mix, and Holiday Mix. Each mix is made from 5 nuts in different combinations: The Regular Mix consists of 15% almonds, 25% Brazil nuts, 25% filberts, 10% pecans, and 25% walnuts The Deluxe Mix consists of 20% of each type of nut The Holiday Mix consists of 25% almonds, 15% Brazil nuts, 15% filberts, 25% pecans, and 20% walnuts An accountant at Brown & Haley completed a cost analysis and determined that the profit contribution per pound is $1.65 for the Regular Mix, $1.90 for the Deluxe Mix, and $2.35 for the Holiday Mix. Different nuts come from different suppliers. They are shipped in bulk containers and ordering a partial container is not possible. The currently available container sizes and costs are as follows:

Type of Nut Container Size (pounds) Cost per Container Almond 6000 $7800 Brazil 7500 $7350 Filbert 7500 $7150 Pecan 6000 $7200 Walnut 7500 $7450

One container of each of the types of nuts has been ordered and is on the way. The sales and marketing teams have projected that initial demand for the different types of mixes will be as follows:

Type of Mix Orders (pounds) Regular 10,000 Deluxe 5,000 Holiday 3,000

The president of Brown & Haley wants to commit to producing enough of the various mixes to meet the projected initial demand, even if not immediately profitable, in order to introduce these new mixes to the market. The Analysis Required The President would like to see a PowerPoint presentation of no more than 10 slides that answers the following questions:

- A supplier has offered us 1000 pounds of almonds for $1000. Should these almonds be purchased? If yes, how much would profits increase? - A supplier has offered us 1200 pounds of filberts for $950. Should these filberts be purchased? If yes, how much would profits increase? - The marketing department is proposing an upgrade to the packaging of the Holiday Mix that would decrease the profit contribution from $2.35 to $2.29 per pound. Would the number of pounds of each type of mix be changed in the optimal solution? (Note that the President would be impressed if you did not need to rerun Solver to answer this question) - If the Presidents requirement to meet the initial demand for each type of mix were eliminated would profitability be impacted? If so, by how much? If you use Solver to answer a question, be sure to reference the specific Solver output that supports your answer.