Wolverine Valve and Fitting Company, located in southern Michigan, manufactures a variety of industrial valves and pipe fittings. Currently, the company is operating at about 70 percent capacity. Management has been approached by Glasgow Industries Ltd. of Scotland with an offer to buy 120,000 units of a pressure valve. Glasgow Industries manufactures a valve that is almost identical to Wolverine’s pressure valve; however, a fire in Glasgow Industries’ valve plant has shut down its manufacturing operations. Glasgow needs the 120,000 valves over the next four months to meet commitments to its regular customers. Glasgow is prepared to pay $28.50 each for the valves. Wolverine’s total product cost for the pressure valve is $30, calculated as follows:

Direct material....................................................................... $ 7.50

Direct labor............................................................................ 9.00

Manufacturing overhead........................................................ 13.50

Total product cost.................................................................$30.00

Manufacturing overhead is applied to production at the rate of $27 per direct-labor hour. This overhead rate is made up of the following components.

Variable manufacturing overhead ...........................................$ 9.00

Fixed manufacturing overhead (traceable................................ 12.00

Fixed manufacturing overhead (allocated).............................. 6.00

Applied manufacturing overhead rate....................................$27.00

Additional costs incurred in connection with sales of the pressure valve include sales commissions of 5 percent and freight expense of $1.50 per unit. However, the company does not pay sales commissions on special orders that come directly to management. In determining selling prices, Wolverine adds a 40 percent markup to total product cost. This provides a $42.00 suggested selling price for the pressure valve. The Marketing Department, however, has set the current selling price at $40.50 in order to maintain market share. Production management believes that it can handle the Glasgow Industries order without disrupting its scheduled production. The order would, however, require additional fixed factory overhead of $18,000 per month in the form of supervision and clerical costs. If management accepts the order, 30,000 pressure valves will be manufactured and shipped to Glasgow Industries each month for the next four months. Glasgow’s management has agreed to pay the shipping charges for the valves.

Required:

1. Determine how many direct-labor hours would be required each month to fill the Glasgow Industries order.

2. Prepare an analysis showing the impact of accepting the Glasgow Industries order.

3. Calculate the minimum unit price that Wolverine Valve and Fitting Company’s management could accept for the Glasgow Industries order without reducing net income.

4. Identify the factors, other than price, that Wolverine’s management should consider before accepting the Glasgow Industries order.

5. Build a spreadsheet: Construct an Excel spreadsheet to solve requirements (2) and (3) above. Show how the solution will change if the following information changes: the direct material and direct labor per unit are $6.90 and $9.10, respectively.