
Answer:
Payback is 5 years. The company should purchase the plant as payback occurs before the replacement date.
Explanation:
If a project has equal annual cash-flows, the payback period can be  calculated using the formula:
[tex]Payback=\frac{CostOfMachine}{AnnualCashflows}[/tex]
As such:
[tex]Payback=\frac{1,525,000}{305,000}= 5years[/tex]
McAlister Products, will consider this machine profitable, and worth investing in if payback  occurs before the​ investment's replacement date. In other words, the company should purchase this plant if payback period is less than 7 years. From the calculation above, payback period is 5 years which is less than 7 years. The company should thus purchase this plant.