Question: Direct materials and direct manufacturing labor variances. Rugged Life, Inc., designs and manufactures fleece quarter-zip jackets. It sells its jackets to brand-name outdoor outfitters in lots of one dozen. Rugged Life's May 2017 static budget and actual results for direct inputs are as follows:
Rugged Life has a policy of analyzing all input variances when they add up to more than 8% of the total cost of materials and labor in the flexible budget, and this is true in May 2017. The production manager discusses the sources of the variances: "A new type of material was purchased in May. This led to faster cutting and sewing, but the workers used more material than usual as they learned to work with it. For now, the standards are fine."
1. Calculate the direct materials and direct manufacturing labor price and efficiency variances in May 2017. What is the total flexible-budget variance for both inputs (direct materials and direct manufacturing labor) combined? What percentage is this variance of the total cost of direct materials and direct manufacturing labor in the flexible budget?
2. Comment on the May 2017 results. Would you continue the "experiment" of using the new material?