Planning Variable Overhead Costs
To effectively plan variable overhead costs for a product or service, managers must focus
attention on the activities that create a superior product or service for their customers
and eliminate activities that do not add value. Webb’s managers examine how each of
their variable overhead costs relates to delivering a superior product or service to customers.
For example, customers expect Webb’s jackets to last, so managers at Webb consider
sewing to be an essential activity. Therefore, maintenance activities for sewing
machines—included in Webb’s variable overhead costs—are also essential activities for
which management must plan. In addition, such maintenance should be done in a costeffective
way, such as by scheduling periodic equipment maintenance rather than waiting
for sewing machines to break down. For many companies today, it is critical to plan for
ways to become more efficient in the use of energy, a rapidly growing component of variable
overhead costs. Webb installs smart meters in order to monitor energy use in real
time and steer production operations away from peak consumption periods.