A Manufacturer Builds Finished Items A, B, and C from Five

question 15

Essay

A manufacturer builds finished items A, B, and C from five different components. They currently have several finished units, a number of items that are partially complete, and many components that have just been delivered from their suppliers. The finished items, incomplete items and raw components can all be assigned some monetary value even though the manufacturer typically does not sell anything except finished items. The manufacturer needs to raise capital quickly so they formulate a linear program to help them decide on the most profitable way ahead. Their linear programming expert forgets to restrict their decision variables to non-negative values and is surprised when the computer output tells them that finished item A and C should be negative. If the company always follows the advice of their linear programming analysis, what should they do and why?

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Definitions:

Expenses

Outflows or other uses of assets or incurrences of liabilities during a period from delivering or producing goods, rendering services, or carrying out other activities that constitute the entity's ongoing major operations.

Liability

Legal obligations related to finances that a business incurs throughout its operational processes.

Accounting Equation

The fundamental equation of double-entry bookkeeping: Assets = Liabilities + Owner's Equity.

Cash

Money in the form of currency that can include bills, coins, and balances in bank accounts that are readily available for use.