Wonder Bakery manufactures two types of bread, which it sells as wholesale products to various specialty retail bakeries. Each loaf of bread requires a three-step process. The first step is mixing. The mixing department combines all of the necessary ingredients to create the dough and processes it through high-speed mixers. The dough is then left to rise before baking. The second step is baking, which is an entirely automated process. The baking department molds the dough into its final shape and bakes each loaf of bread in a high-temperature oven. The final step is finishing, which is an entirely manual process. The finishing department coats each loaf of bread with a special glaze, allows the bread to cool, and then carefully packages each loaf in a specialty carton for sale in retail bakeries.

Required

1. Costs involved in the process are listed next. For each cost, indicate whether it is a direct variable,­direct fixed, indirect variable, or indirect fixed cost, assuming “ units of production of each kind of bread” is the cost object.

Costs:

Yeast.................Mixing department manager

Flour...............Materials handlers in each department

Packaging materials..........Custodian in factory

Depreciation on ovens.........Night guard in factory

Depreciation on mixing machines...Machinist (running the mixing machine)

Rent on factory building .......Machine maintenance personnel in each department

Fire insurance on factory building..Maintenance supplies for factory

Factory utilities..........Cleaning supplies for factory

Finishing department hourly laborers

2. If the cost object were the “ mixing department” rather than units of production of each kind of bread, which preceding costs would now be direct instead of indirect costs?