Boyertown Industrial Tools is considering a three-year project to improve its production efficiency. Buying a new machine ress for $578,000 is estimated to result in $184,000 in annual pretax cost savings. The press falls in the MACRS five-year class, which has percentage rates starting with Year 1, of 20, 32, 19.20,11.52, 11.52, and 5.76. The salvage value at the end of the project of $162,000. The press also requires an initial investment in spare parts inventory of $19,000, along with an additional $1,500 in inventory for each succeeding year of the project. The inventory will all be recovered when the project ends. If the tax rate is 35 percent and the discount rate is 12 percent, should the company buy and install the machine press? Why or why not?

a. Yes; the NPV is $51,613.33

b. Yes; the NPV is $45,602.57

c. No; the NPV is –$22,311.09

d. No; the NPV is –$52,918.78

e. Yes; the NPV is $64,728.29