The Assignment Problem

The model essentially tries to address the issue of getting the best
from every allocation.
The use of this method allows a manger to address the following
questions:

How to assign jobs to workers according to their experience and to ensure

the best efficiency of output
How to deal with situations wherein some allocations are not possible due to
technical reasons or in case of absence of some workers.
Which field staff is to be allotted to which territory in order to maximise the
returns.
How to get the best schedule for inbound and outbound transport
combination where the least crew layover time is an important decision
criteria.

The Assignment Problem

To fit the assignment problem definition, the following
assumptions must be satisfied:
The number of assignees and the number of tasks are the same
(denoted by n).
Each assignee is to be assigned to exactly one task.
Each task is to be assigned to exactly one assignee.
There is a cost cij associated with assignee i performing task j.
The objective is to determine how all n assignments should be
made to minimize the total cost.

Assignment Problem Flow Diagram

a assignee
t tasks

a1 1
a2

c11
c12

t1

a3

t3

an

t4

assignees

cnn

tasks

t2

Assignment Problem Cost Matrix

Let the following represent the standard assignment problem
cost matrix, c:
Tasks

Assignees

1
c11

2
c12

n
c 1n

c21

cn1

c22

c 2n

cn2

c nn

Consider the matrix shown which shows the cost of

processing each of the jobs A, B, and C on the machines
X, Y, and Z respectively. The cost are in rupees and the
objective here is to make allocations in such a manner
that the total cost of the allocation is optimal, that is, the
minimum cost option.

Job

Machine
X

20

10

17

26

15

14

30

19

12

Assignment Problem Hungarian Method

Summary of Hungarian Method:
Step 1 Ensure that the given problem is a minimisation problem and
the matrix is a square matrix.
Step 2 Find the minimum element in each row. Construct a new
matrix by subtracting from each cost the minimum cost in its row (row
operation). (If any row has zero as an element, no need to perform row
operation).
Step 3 - For this new matrix, find the minimum cost in each column
(column operation). Construct a new matrix by subtracting from each
cost the minimum cost in its column. ). (If any column has zero as an
element, no need to perform column operation)
Step 4- Examine the rows successively until a row with exactly one
unmarked zero is found. Make an assignment to this zero by putting a
square around it, and cross all other zeros appearing in the
corresponding column. Proceed in the same way for all the rows.

Step 5- Examine the columns successively until a column with exactly

one unmarked zero is found. Make an assignment to this zero by putting
a square around it, and cross all other zeros appearing in the
corresponding row. Proceed in the same way for all the columns.

Step 6- Repeat step 4 and 5 until all the zeros in rows/columns are either
squared or crossed and there is exactly one assignment in each column
and each row. In such a case optimal assignment policy is obtained. If
there is a row or column without assignment, i.e. the total number of
squared zeros is less than the order of the matrix, then go to step 7.

Step 7 Draw the minimum number of lines (horizontal or vertical) that

are needed to cover all the zeros in the reduced cost matrix. If n lines are
required, an optimal solutions is available among the covered zeros in
the matrix. If fewer than n lines are needed, proceed to step 7.

Step 8 Find the smallest nonzero element (call its value k) in the
reduced cost matrix that is uncovered by the lines drawn in Step 7. Now
subtract k from each uncovered element of the reduced cost matrix and
add k to each element that is covered by two lines. Return to step 4.

A computer centre has got four expert programmers. The centre needs
four application programmes to be developed. The head of the
computer centre, after studying carefully the programmes to be
developed, estimates the computer time (in minutes) required by the
respective experts to develop the application programmes as follows:

Programmes

Programmers

120

100

80

90

80

90

110

70

110

140

120

100

90

90

80

90

A company is producing a single product and is selling it through five

agencies situated in different cities. All of a sudden, there is a demand for
the product in another five cities not having any agency of the company.
The company is faced with the problem of deciding on how to assign the
existing agencies to despatch the product to needy cities in such a way that
the travelling distance is minimised. The distances (in kms) between the
surplus and deficit cities are given in the following distance-matrix:
Deficit Cities
Surplus
Cities

II

III

IV

160

130

175

190

200

135

120

130

160

175

140

110

155

170

185

50

50

80

80

110

55

35

70

80

105

An airline operating seven days a week has the schedule shown in

the table below for its flights between New Delhi and Mumbai. The
crew should have a stopover of minimum 5 hours between flights.
Obtain the pairing of flights that minimizes the layover time of the
crew away from the home. For any given pairing, the crew will be
based in the city that results in the smallest layover.

New Delhi-Mumbai

Mumbai-New Delhi

Flight

Departure

Arrival

Flight

Departure

Arrival

101

5 AM

7 AM

201

7 AM

9 AM

102

7 AM

9 AM

202

8 AM

10 AM

103

1 PM

3 PM

203

1 PM

3 PM

104

7 PM

9 PM

204

6 PM

8 PM

Maximisation in an Assignment Problem

Five different machines can do any of the five required jobs with different
profits resulting from each assignment as shown in the following table. find
out maximum profit possible through optimal assignment.

Machine

Job

30

37

40

28

40

40

24

27

21

36

40

32

33

30

35

25

38

40

36

36

29

62

41

34

39

Unbalanced Assignment Problem

Solve the following unbalanced assignment problem of minimizing total time
for doing all the jobs.

Job

Operations

Restrictions on Assignments
In the modification of a plant layout of a factory four new machines M 1, M2, M3 and M4 are to
be installed in a machine shop. There are five vacant places A,B,C,D and E available. Because
of limited space, machine M2 cannot be placed at C and M cannot be placed at A. The cost of
locating of machine i to place j in rupees is shown below. Find optimal assignment schedule:

M1

11

15

10

11

M2

12

10

M3

11

14

11

M4

14

12