The following appeared in a presentation by the chief production manager of a machine parts manufacturing company at a management meeting: “Our factory in Cookville is our most advanced and efficient. It is capable of producing ten drill bits for each dollar of production costs, whereas none of our other factories can produce more than seven drill bits per dollar of production costs. Therefore, we can reduce our overall drill bit production costs by devoting the Cookville factory entirely to drill bit production. Since reducing the production costs of individual machine parts is the only way to achieve our larger goal of reducing our overall production costs, dedicating the Cookville factory entirely to drill bit production and shifting all other machine part production to our other factories will help us to attain that larger goal.”

The following appeared in a presentation by the chief production manager of a machine parts manufacturing company at a management meeting:

“Our factory in Cookville is our most advanced and efficient. It is capable of producing ten drill bits for each dollar of production costs, whereas none of our other factories can produce more than seven drill bits per dollar of production costs. Therefore, we can reduce our overall drill bit production costs by devoting the Cookville factory entirely to drill bit production. Since reducing the production costs of individual machine parts is the only way to achieve our larger goal of reducing our overall production costs, dedicating the Cookville factory entirely to drill bit production and shifting all other machine part production to our other factories will help us to attain that larger goal.”

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.

The speaker’s rationale is sound. However, since the company must make a profit, he must consider all costs, including those of moving production from Cookville to the other factories. The speaker’s assertion that Cookville is the most productive and productive factory is irrelevant if Cookville is not capable of producing the other products as well. For example, what if Cookville cannot economically produce drill bits but does have some other, more valuable, parts? Perhaps Cookville can produce those parts at a lower unit cost than one of the other factories. Or perhaps Cookville cannot produce those parts at all and is the only factory capable of producing them. Either way, the company would waste money by relocating production to Cookville when the company cannot produce the other products as well

Therefore, the company must consider the costs and benefits of shifting production from Cookville to the other factories. For example, the company could foresee that moving production to Cookville would incur costs beyond those inherent in moving production from one factory to another. Such costs might include the cost of retraining the Cookville workers to produce a different product. The company must also consider the opportunity cost of moving production from Cookville. For example, the company must decide whether to invest the labor necessary to produce this product in Cookville or in another location. Moving production from Cookville to another location would require the company to adequately invest in the labor for that other location. The company must weigh the costs and benefits of moving production from one factory to another carefully before making a decision.