Table 10.9 Table 10.10 Locations Gal Req'd Santa Ana 22418 El Paso 6800 Pendleton 80290 Houston 100447 Kansas City 241570 Los Angeles 64761 Glendale...

"Solutions Plus is an industrial chemicals company that produces specialized cleaning fluids and solvents for a wide variety of applications. Solutions Plus just recieved an invitation to submit a bid to supply Great North American Railroad with a cleaning fluid for locomotives. Great Noth American needs the cleaning fluid at 11 locations (railway stations). It provided the following information to Solutions Plus regarding the number of gallons of cleaning fluid required at each location (See Table 10.9) Solutions Plus can produce the cleaning fluid at its Cincinnati plant for $1.20 per gallon. Even though the Cincinnati location is its only plant, Solutions Plus has negotiated with an industrial chemicals company in Oakland, CA to produce and ship up to 50,000 gallons of the locomotive cleaning fluid to selected Solutions Plus customer locations. The Oakland company will charge Solutions Plus $1.65 per gallon to produce the cleaning fluid, but Solutions Plus thinks that the lower shipping costs to Oakland to some customer locations may offset the added cost to produce the product. The president of Solutions Plus, Charlie Weaver, contacted several trucking companies to negotiate shipping rates between the two production facilities (Cincinnati and Oakland) and the locations where the railroad locomotives are cleaned. Table 10.10 shows the quotes received in terms of dollars per gallon. The -- entries in Table 10.10 identify shipping routes that will not be considered because of the large distances involved. These quotes for shipping rates are guaranteed for one year. To submit a bid to the railroad company, Solutions Plus must determine the price per gallon they will charge. Solutions Plus usually sells its cleaning fluids for 15% more than its cost to produce and deliver the product, however, Fred Roedel, the director of marketing, suggested that maybe the company should consider a smaller profit margin. In addition, to ensure that if Solutions Plus wins the bid, that they will have adequate capacity to satisfy existing orders as well as accept orders for other new business, the management team decided to limit the number of gallons of the locomotive cleaning fluid produced in the Cincinnati plant to 500,000 gallons at most.You are asked to make recommendations that will help Solutions Plus prepare a bid. Your report should address, but not be limited to the following issues:How much should be shipped from each facility to each locations?2. What is the breakeven point for Solutions Plus? That is, how low can the company go on its bid without losing money.3. If solutions plus wants to use its standard 15% markup, how much should it bid?4. Freight costs are significantly altered by the price of oil. The contract on which Solutions Plus is bidding is for two years. Discuss how the fluctuation in freight costs might affect the bid Solutions Plus submits. "