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XCELL Printing has created a new cartridge for 3D printers that they claim is fa

ID: 1149626 • Letter: X

Question

XCELL Printing has created a new cartridge for 3D printers that they claim is far superior to the closest alternative cartridge sold by MM Printing. XCELL is in the process of selecting a price for the cartridge and wants to learn what the cartridge will be really worth to customers who are manufacturing firms. The MM cartridge sells for $200. While the MM cartridge breaks down with a probability of 40% after every 500 print jobs on a 3D Printer, the XCELL cartridge breaks down with a probability of 30% after every 900 print jobs. Every fix in case of a breakdown requires an hour of labor cost and also a material cost of $5. The XCELL cartridge requires a higher quality plastic compared to the MM cartridge. Suppose you are told that the cost of plastic amounts to $10 per carton for XCELL and $8 per carton for MM, and typically a customer would need to reorder a carton every 450 print jobs. Also, you are told that $20 is the hourly rate for labor hired by the typical manufacturing firm. Also, on the average, a manufacturing firm does 4500 print jobs in a year. Suppose the lifetime of a cartridge is 1 year. Calculate the total economic value of the XCELL cartridge.

Explanation / Answer

MM cartridge price = $200

Xcell cartridge price = $x

probability of breakdown after 500 prints = 0.4

cost of fixing for each breakdown = labor cost + marterial cost

cost of fixing for each breakdown= 20 + 5 = $25

Total print in a year = 4500

Cost of fixing for entire year = probability of breakdown*(total print in a year/500)*cost of fixing for each breakdown

cost of fixing for entire year = 0.4*(4500/500)*25

cost of fixing for entire year = 90

cost of plastic for MM cartridge = 8 * (4500/450) = 80

Total cost for consumer in case of MM cartridge = 200 + 80 + 90 = $370

As MM cartridge is close substitute for XCELL cartridge, the total cost for consumer in case of XCELL cartridge should not exceed $370.

cost of fixing for entire year = 0.3*(4500/900)*25

cost of fixing for entire year = 37.5

cost of plastic for XCELL cartridge = 10 * (4500/450) = 100

Total extra cost for consumer in case of XCELL cartridge = 100 + 37.5 = $137.5

Maximum price XCELL cartridge can have = 370 - 137.5 = $232.5

Hence, total economic value of the XCELL cartridge can have $232.5