Acme Company purchases precious metal (Pd) at a cost of $42…
Acme Company purchases precious metal (Pd) at a cost of $42 per ounce. Acme can resell Pd as is for $45 per ounce or it can process it into gadgets. It takes one ounce of Pd to make one gadget, which Acme can sell for $75 per unit. In addition to the cost of Pd, Acme incurs $16 of additional variable costs to make and sell one gadget. The monthly traceable fixed costs related to producing and selling gadgets include $119,000 of salaries paid to managers, as well as $21,000 of depreciation expense on production equipment that has no resale value. How many gadgets does Acme need to sell each month to break-even on processing Pd into gadgets as opposed to merely reselling Pd as is?