Jack's Grocery is manufacturing a "store brand" item that has a variable cost of $0.75 per unit and a selling price of $1.25 per unit. Fixed costs are $12,000. Current volume is 50,000 units. The Grocery can substantially improve the product quality by adding a new piece of equipment at an additional fixed cost of $5,000. Variable cost would increase to $1.00, but their volume should increase to 70,000 units due to the higher quality product.
1. Should the company buy the new equipment?
2. What are the break-even points ($ and units) for the two processes considered in part a?