Chapman Machine Shop is considering a 4-year project to improve its production efficiency. Buying a new machine press for $576,000 is estimated to result in $192,000 in annual pretax cost savings. The press falls in the MACRS 5-year class, and it will have a salvage value at the end of the project of $84,000. The press also requires an initial investment in spare parts inventory of $24,000, along with an additional $3,600 in inventory for each succeeding year of the project. The inventory will return to its original level when the project ends. The shop's tax rate is 35 percent and its discount rate is 11 percent. Should the firm buy and install the machine press

The Firm should not Buy and Install the press as it delivers a negative NPV of -$24,924 at 11% discount rate over its 4 year operations

Explanation:

The General rule is to appraise the investment based on various appraisal techniques.

A technique that should be considered must have special focus on the time value of money, the required rate of returns expected by the firm and other Cashflow considerations.

The Net Present Value (NPV) approach will be the best method to proceed with.

The NPV approach typically falls under the following decision tree:

a. If NPV is negative (Reject the proposal)

b. If NPV is positive (Accept if it's a singular project, Accept the highest positive NPV if it's for mutually exclusive Projects)

c. If Zero (this is the breakeven line at which the Project covers all its cost but does not return a profit.) Also referred to as the IRR

Kindly refer to the attached for detailed workings