GB519 · Unit 8

GB519 Unit 8 make-or-buy decision example

Measurement and Decision Making Purdue University Global Free custom sample in 24 to 48h

Keep canning on an aging in-house line or hand packaging to a mobile canning contractor: GB519's eighth unit in many sections sets up a choice like that one, and this finished make-or-buy decision frames it over three years rather than one. It sorts the brewery's canning costs into those that would disappear and those that would not, finds a narrow gap, and lets schedule risk decide.

What this page holds

Canning stays in-house in this GB519 Unit 8 make-or-buy decision, on three years of avoidable costs, an indifference price of 1.44 dollars a case and a priced schedule risk. Searches like "gb 519 unit 8 assignment example", "gb519 unit 8 sample" and "gb519 unit 8 example" land here.

What a finished GB519 Unit 8 make-or-buy decision looks like

A decision memo of about three pages with two exhibits. Exhibit one sorts every canning cost the case lists into avoidable and unavoidable. Avoidable: one operator's wages, line maintenance and parts, carbon dioxide and power for the line, and a 45,000-dollar overhaul due next year. Unavoidable: line depreciation, a share of plant overhead, the second operator who would move to the cellar, and cans and labels bought either way. Exhibit two runs both options over three years: making costs about 289,500 dollars; buying, at 1.35 dollars a case plus a 400-dollar daily setup fee, costs about 272,200 after the line's 35,000-dollar resale. The body computes the per-case price at which the options tie, 1.44 dollars, prices the cost of two missed summer canning days, and recommends keeping the line.

How a GB519 Unit 8 example is structured

The memo states its recommendation first, then earns it in the order a skeptical owner would test it. Cost sorting comes before any comparison, one question applied to every line: would this amount stop if the brewery stopped canning? The three-year horizon is chosen because the overhaul and the resale value are one-time amounts that a single-year comparison would either ignore or overweight. Once the arithmetic shows buying ahead by about 17,300 dollars, the memo refuses to stop there. It converts the gap into an indifference price, which tells the owner how close the contractor's quote sits to the point where the answer flips. Then it prices the risk the numbers leave out: the contractor's summer calendar is shared with other breweries, and two missed July days would strand about 3,200 cases, worth roughly 51,000 dollars of contribution.

Would this stop if canning stopped?

One question sorts every cost, sending wages, parts, power and the overhaul to one list and depreciation, overhead and the reassigned operator to the other.

Three years, not one

The overhaul and the line's resale are one-time amounts, so both options are totaled over the period the decision actually commits.

Buying ahead by 17,300 dollars

The contractor's per-case fee and daily setup charge, less the resale, come in below the cost of keeping the line.

The price where the answer flips

At 1.44 dollars a case the options tie, nine cents above the quote, which shows how thin the saving really is.

Two missed days in July

About 3,200 stranded cases at the contribution per case found earlier, a risk roughly three times the size of the three-year saving.

Keep the line, with a trigger

Stay in-house unless the contractor guarantees summer dates and quality testing at or below a stated price per case.

Where marks go in GB519 Unit 8

Comparing the contractor's price with the full cost per case from the brewery's books, depreciation and overhead included, loses the most, because it makes in-house canning look expensive on the strength of costs that would continue after the line was gone. Counting the reassigned operator as a saving is the next deduction, since that wage moves rather than stops. A one-year comparison that ignores the overhaul or the resale misreads a multi-year commitment. Recommendations built on the arithmetic alone, when the gap is this narrow, forfeit judgment marks in most graduate sections; so do qualitative points left unpriced when a figure was available. Missing the indifference price, or a recommendation with no condition for revisiting it, loses smaller amounts, as does a memo that never says which way the decision went.

Get a GB519 Unit 8 example written to your instructions

Send the Unit 8 case, every cost it lists for both options, and the rubric; special orders and keep-or-drop cases work the same way. Each cost gets sorted by whether it would stop, the options are compared over the right horizon, and the recommendation names the condition that would change it. Delivered in 24-48h; the first custom sample is free.

GB519 Unit 8 questions, answered

Why not just compare the contractor's price with the cost per case?

Because the cost per case on the books includes amounts the brewery would keep paying after outsourcing, such as depreciation on equipment already bought and a share of plant overhead. Comparing against that figure makes buying look better than it is. GB519 make-or-buy problems are designed to test whether those costs are recognized and removed before the comparison is made.

When should qualitative factors override the numbers?

When the financial gap is small relative to a risk that can be estimated. Here the three-year saving from outsourcing was about 17,300 dollars, while two missed canning days in peak season could cost several times that in lost contribution. Where possible the sample prices the qualitative factor, which turns a vague concern into a comparison a manager can weigh.

What is an indifference price and why include it?

It is the supplier price at which making and buying cost the same over the decision's horizon. Reporting it tells management how sensitive the answer is: a quote far below it makes buying robust, while one just below it means a small price change or a single missed delivery could erase the saving. It also gives the owner a number to negotiate toward.