CASESOLUTIONS
CASE91:LOWNAILCOMPANY
Question1:UsingtheEOQmethodsoutlinedinchapter9,howmanykegsofnails
shouldLoworderatonetime?
TheEOQformulais:
EOQ=2(annualuseinunits)(costofplacinganorder)/
annualcarryingcostperitemperyear
=2(2000)(60)/2
=120,000
=345kegsperorder
Notethe2inthedenominator.Thatisbecause,onaverage,therentedwarehousespaceis
onlyhalffull,which,makestheaveragewarehousingcostperkegbe$2.
Question2:Assumeallconditionsinquestion1hold,exceptthatLowssuppliernow
offersaquantitydiscountintheformofabsorbingallorpartofLowsorderprocessing
costs.Forordersof750ormorekegsofnails,thesupplierwillabsorballtheorder
processingcosts;forordersbetween249and749kegs,thesupplierwillabsorbhalf.
WhatisLowsnewEOQ?(Itmightbeusefultolayoutallcostsintabularformforthis
andlaterquestions.)
Processingcosts
($)
Warehousing
costs($)
Sumof
processingand
warehousing
costs($)
Orders/year
Ordersize
2,000
Free
2,000
2,000
1,000
Free
1,000
1,000
667
90
667
757
500
120
500
620
400
150
400
550
334
180
334
514
286
210
286
496
250
240
250
490
223
540
223
743
ThenewEOQ,basedontheaboveinformation,is250kegs.
Question3:Temporarily,ignoreyourworkonquestion2.AssumethatLows
warehouseofferstorentLowspaceonthebasisoftheaveragenumberofkegsLowwill
haveinstock,ratherthanonthemaximumnumberofkegsLowwouldneedroomfor
wheneveranewshipmentarrived.Thestoragecostperkegremainsthesame.Doesthis
changetheanswertoQuestion1?Ifso,whatisthenewanswer?
Therelevanttableisasfollows:
Processingcosts
($)
Warehousing
costs($)
Sumof
processingand
warehousing
costs($)
Orders/year
Ordersize
2,000
60
1,000
1,060
1,000
120
500
620
667
180
334
524
500
240
250
490
400
300
200
500
ThenewEOQ,basedontheaboveinformation,is500.
Question4:Takeintoaccounttheanswertoquestion1andthesuppliersnewpolicy
outlinedinquestion2andthewarehousesnewpolicyinquestion3.Thendetermine
LowsnewEOQ.
Therelevanttableisasfollows:
Processingcosts
($)
Warehousing
costs($)
Sumof
processingand
warehousing
costs($)
Orders/year
Ordersize
2,000
Free
1,000
1,000
1,000
Free
500
500
667
90
334
424
500
120
250
370
400
150
200
350
334
180
167
347
286
210
143
353
ThenewEOQ,basedontheaboveinformation,is334.
Question5:Temporarily,ignoreyourworkonquestions2,3,and4.Lowsluckatthe
racetrackisover;henowmustborrowmoneytofinancehisinventoryofnails.Looking
atthesituationoutlinedinquestion1,assumethatthewholesalecostofnailsis$40per
kegandthatLowmustpayinterestattherateof1.5%permonthontheunsoldinventory.
WhatishisnewEOQ?
Thisanswercanbedoneintabularformaswell,withtheinterestoninventoryappearing
asanewcolumn.Ifoneorderisplacedayear,theaverageinventoryis1,000
kegs,worth$40,000,withannualinterestcharges(1.5x12=18%)of$7,200.
Otherinterestcostsarecalculatedinasimilarfashion,adjustedforaverage
inventory.
Therelevanttableisasfollows:
Orders/year
Ordersize
Processing
costs($)
Warehousing
costs($)
Interestcosts
($)
Sumof
processing,
warehousing,
andinterest
costs($)
2,000
60
2,000
7,200
9,260
1,000
120
1,000
3,600
4,720
667
180
667
2,405
3,252
500
240
500
1,800
2,540
400
300
400
1,440
2,140
334
360
334
1,203
1,897
286
420
286
1,030
1,736
250
480
250
900
1,630
223
540
223
807
1,570
10
200
600
200
720
1,520
11
182
660
182
656
1,498
12
167
720
167
605
1,492
13
154
780
154
555
1,489
14
143
840
143
519
1,502
ThenewEOQ,basedontheaboveinformation,is154kegs.
Question6:Takingintoaccountallthefactorslistedinquestions1,2,3,and5,calculate
LowsEOQforkegsofnails.
Therelevanttableisasfollows:
Orders/year
1
Ordersize
2,000
Processing
costs($)
Free
Warehousing
costs($)
1,000
Interestcosts
($)
7,200
Sumof
processing,
warehousing,
andinterest
costs($)
8,200
1,000
Free
500
3,600
4,100
667
90
334
2,405
2,829
500
120
250
1,800
2,170
400
150
200
1,440
1,790
334
180
167
1,203
1,550
286
210
143
1,030
1,383
250
240
125
900
1,265
223
540
112
807
1,459
Thenewanswer,basedontheaboveinformation,is250kegs.