Deere & company, the maker of john deere farm, construction, and lawn-care equipment, employs engineers who work full-time with the company's suppliers to improve their efficiency and quality and reduce their costs.

Dakota products has a production budget as follows: may, 16,000 units; june, 19,000 units; and july, 24,000 units. each unit requires 3 pounds of raw material and 2 direct labor hours. dakota desires to keep an inventory of 10% of the next month’s requirements on hand. on may, 1 there were 4,800 pounds of raw material in inventory. direct labor hours required in may would be: