Maximus Company has met all production requirements for the current month

Maximus Company has met all production requirements for the current month and has an opportunity to produce additional units of product with its excess capacity. Unit selling prices and unit costs for three models of one of its product lines are as follows.

Plain model Regular model Super model
Selling price £30.00 £32.50 £40.00
Direct material £9.00 £10.00 £9.50
Direct labour (@ £5 per hour) £5.00 £7.50 £10.00
Variable overhead £4.00 £6.00 £8.00
Fixed overhead £8.00 £7.50 £7.50

Variable overhead is applied on the basis of direct labour dollars, while fixed overhead is applied on the basis of machine hours. There is sufficient demand for the additional production of any model of the product line.

a. If Maximus Company has excess machine capacity and can add more labour as needed (i.e. neither machine capacity nor labour is a constraint), which product is the most attractive to produce? Provide calculations and reasons to support your answer.

b. If Maximus Company has excess machine capacity but a limited amount of labour time available, to which product or products should the excess production capacity be devoted? Provide calculations and reasons to support your answer.