R&D completion dates are vital. If a product’s revision date is late in the year, it will sell at its old specifications for most of that round.

"In the last two years, our contribution margin has declined from $[Year1 CM] to $[Year2 CM]. This decline is attributed to two specific factors. First, our labor cost per unit increased from $[LC1] to $[LC2] due to our failure to increase automation levels (which remained at [Auto level]). Second, our material cost increased from $[MC1] to $[MC2] because we invested in higher performance/size specifications for the Traditional segment without raising the price proportionally. To reverse this, we will increase automation to 8.0 and raise the price by $2.00 in the next round."