Orion Controls Case
Executive Summary
Faced with the challenge of continuing to remain the leader in industrial valve systems, Orion Controls is required to decide whether or not to carry out product improvement redesigns. A successful redesign will secure the company an initial level of sales of 50 or 90 units to two new customers followed by the benefits of enjoying an innovator’s reputation.
An expected profit of $262,900 resulting from a product redesign given the information available with Orion and current commitments, the company is advised to carry out the redesign and sell to Avion Chemicals and Kemikal. Orion can make a profit of up to $655,000 if successful in achieving dramatic changes in its existing model SV44A-10
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• Break-even Analysis:
Currently, Orion produces the valve at a cost of $8,000 per unit and sells each unit for $10,000; resulting in a 25% mark-up. Orion has agreed to sell the modestly improved valve for $12,000 per unit when the variable costs alone are $10,500; $8000 per-unit manufacturing costs and $2,500 per-unit comprehensive test procedure costs. Orion has decreased its profit margin to 14% without even considering fixed costs. If the short-cut approach works, fixed costs would be $200,000, and Orion needs to sell 133.33 units to breakeven. If the software design takes eight months, fixed cost could be as high as $440,000 and Orion would need to sell 293.33 units to breakeven. However, with a dramatically improved valve and fixed costs of $200,000 Orion will breakeven after selling 20 units and with fixed costs of $440,000, Orion will breakeven at 46.3 units.
• Risk Analysis:
o There is only a 10% chance the entire project will fail; therefore, Orion should take the risk in developing the product. o Orion regularly takes calculated risks to improve profits. One of Orion’s biggest risks involves the software development. Using a short-cut approach and developing the software within three months, the software development phase of the project has a 75% chance of being completed at a cost of $120,000. However, if they are unsuccessful, it will cost Orion three times as much, i.e., $360,000
If the company decided to sell the new product at price of D.Cr. 8.20, that means the full fixed expense of 1.20 is covered and the company will make high profit. However, the selling price of D.Cr. 8.20 is very high and under this price the company will sell the new product at a lower volume than what the company planned sale volume in the budget and that will affect the company in the market as a strong competitor in the food manufacturing. According to the case, the company sales volume drop to 30 tons when the product was sold at the price of D.Cr. 8.2. Thus, my recommendation are as follows:
risks and determine the likelihood and consequence of that risk occurring during the project. The
The most suitable costing method Yeltin should adopt is the practical capacity in order to remove the factor of uncertain budgeted sales figure. For this approach and the practical capacity of 65000-22000 units, then the revised overhead costs come out to be $30. With the inclusion of material and labor costs, the cost of the cartridge stand at $52 and the additional royalty expense of $10 raises the overall per unit cost to $62. The selling price of the cartridge is fixed at $150. With this selling price, the gross margin is equal to $88. The gross margin percentage is equal to 59%. In comparison to the budgeted volume, the gross margin has increased by 14%. See below
Project 1 embedded risk can be assessed by evaluating the market risk, success/failure rate of the project.
The Orion Shield Project was analyzed, particularly in regard to the program manager, Gary Allison. Having never managed a program before, Gary was given an opportunity to do so on this valuable project. Several stakeholders came into play; some that helped contribute to Gary’s demise, and others who were often left to pick up the pieces where Gary may have failed. Ultimately, it was determined that in more than one way, Gary was not a successful program manager. Technical, ethical, legal, and contractual shortfalls were addressed to see where Gary and his team may have gone wrong.
A Cost-reimbursable contract would have been a better option for SEC. This contract would have required detailed budgets that indicate the intended use of the funds as this detail helps define appropriate and allowable expenditures. A Cost-reimbursable contract would have better motoring, accountability and incentive to meet deadlines.
Webmasters.com has developed a powerful new server that would be used for corporations’ Internet activities. It would cost $10 million at Year 0 to buy the equipment necessary to manufacture the server. The project would require net working capital at the beginning of each year in an amount equal to 10% of the year's projected sales; for example, NWC0 = 10%(Sales1). The servers would sell for $24,000 per unit, and Webmasters believes that variable costs would amount to $17,500 per unit. After Year 1, the sales price and variable costs will increase at the inflation rate of 3%. The company’s
In this paper, The Orion Shield Project is critically analyzed to determine how effective the project manager, Mr. Gary Allison, is in operating as leader. Specifically, the paper focuses on what technical, ethical, legal, contractual, and other managerial issues plague the success of The Orion Shield Project. The paper attempts to analyze these issues by first introducing the reader to background about the project, and then moving into a deeper discussion of every one of the previously mentioned issues. Due to the individuals he works with and the differing situations he is placed, Mr. Allison must make difficult decisions at every corner. After
“Projects account for about one fourth of the U.S. and the world’s gross domestic product” (Schwalbe 2012). With that said, there are many challenges and issues that hinder the ultimate success or completion of a project. So is evident in the case of the Orion Shield Project, whose execution faced issues of technical, ethical, legal, contractual and interpersonal natures. Taking on a role that assumes responsibilities in stark contrast to newly appointed project manager Gary Allison’s professional background and experience doomed the project from the start. Not only did Gary not have the experience, he failed to research and prepare himself, prior to the project’s
The materials used per unit of production, the Run labor hours and machine hours are provided in exhibit 2. The overhead expenses per unit of the product have been apportioned according to their percentage production and usage. (Drucker, 1999)
* The Flow Controllers total product variable costs are $128,000, the Flow Controllers total fixed costs are
In January 2003, Michael Pogonowski, the chief financial officer of Aurora Textile Company, was questioning whether the company should install a new ring-spinning machine, the Zinser 351, in the Hunter production facility. This new machine has ability to produce a finer-quality yarn that would be used for higher-quality and higher-margin products. In deciding whether or not to invest this new machine, NPV and the payback period are critical factors. Firstly, we need to forecast the cash flows that the Zinser 351 will generate in the future. After calculation, the ten-year NPV will be $3, 172,582. Secondly, we use the payback period to analyze the acceptance of this project. Based on this analysis,
If Lars decides to invest around $6 million more in research and development, it is highly risky as the company’s survival depends largely on the success of the launch of Ray’s new product into the market.
When considering the situation the Orion Controls faces, however, I should reconsider my decision. Orion has established its reputation in leading-edge technology, product reliability, customer relations and willingness to design customized products. For such reputation, Avion Chemicals approached to Orion and asked them to develop a new valve
The valves that the company makes are produced using four different machine components and are produced and shipped in large lots. Scott feels as if the competitors are now able to match their quality but have yet to try and gain market share by cutting the prices of their valves. Additionally, the pumps are made using five components from machines and then assembled into the final product. These are then shipping to the industrial companies that have purchased these pumps. One issue is that competitors keep lowering their prices on their own pumps, so Wilkerson has to match these and lower their prices as well. This makes it hard for Wilkerson to keep their gross margin profits up since their prices continue to lower. Last, the flow controllers need more labor and machining components than either the pumps or the valves. Additionally, there are many other alternatives that are used in the industry so more product runs are needed for these versus the pumps or valves. Also, more shipments are needed for these since there are shipped to industrial companies. The flow controllers were doing better than the valves or the pumps since Wilkerson was able to raise their