ASSIGNMENT: Assignment technique is a typical optimization technique particularly useful in a situation where a certain number of tasks required to be assigned

to equal number of facilities. The tasks differ in their work contents and the facilities differ in their capabilities. Examples of assignment: Jobs to machines Sales personnel to sales territories Vehicles to routes Buildings to sites Products to factories Contracts to bidders Project engineers to projects

HUNGARIAN METHOD OF ASSIGNMENT PROBLEM( MINIMIZATION CASE) Procedural steps to solve a standard assignment problem: A standard assignment problem is a balanced assignment problem ( i.e., number of tasks equal number of facilities), incorporates no restriction in allocation and involves minimization objective. Step 1: Express the problem into nxn assignment matrix. Step2: Select the smallest element in each row and subtract it from every element in that row. Step-3: Select the smallest element in each column of the reduced matrix from step 2 and subtract it from every element of that column.

Step4: Cover all zero elements by minimum number of straight lines ( horizontal and vertical only). If the number of lines drawn is equal to n ( number of rows/ columns), the solution is optimal and proceed to step 7. If the number of lines drawn is smaller than n, go to step 5. Step5: Select the smallest uncovered element ( smallest element not covered by the lines), subtract it from all uncovered elements including itself, add it to the element covered twice ( i.e, elements located at intersection of two lines), and reproduce other elements as they are. Step6: Repeat steps 4 and 5 until an optimal solution is obtained.

Step 7: Given the optimal solution, make the job assignments as follows: a) Examine the rows one by one starting with the first row until a row with a exclusive zero ( row with exactly one zero) is found. Mark the zero by enclosing it in a square indicating assignment of the task to the facility. Cross out all zeros ( if any) in the column as they cannot be used to make other assignments. b) Examine next the columns for any mutual exclusive zero and mark each as above, crossing out the remaining zeros in that row. c) Repeat steps (a) and (b)successively until either of the following conditions occur.

i) All zeroes have been marked/ crossed. The remaining unmarked zeros lie atleast two in each row and column. This means that more than one optimal solution exist. ii) All zeros have not been marked/crossed. The remaining unmarked zeros lie atleast two in each row and column. This means that more than one optimal solution exists.

A job production unit has four jobs A,B,C and D which can be manufactured on each of the four machines P,Q,R and S. The processing cost of each job on each machine is given in the table below: JOBS MACHINE P Q R S Processing cost ( Rs.) 1 31 25 33 29 2 25 24 23 21 3 19 21 23 24 4 38 36 34 40 To achieve minimum processing cost, which job will you process on which machine?
1.

2.A departmental head has four subordinates and four tasks for completion. The subordinates differ in their capabilities and tasks differ in their work content and intrinsic difficulties. His estimate of time for each subordinate and each task is given in the matrix below: TASKS SUBORDINATES I II III IV Processing time ( hrs) A 17 25 26 20 B 28 27 23 25 C 20 18 17 14 D 28 25 23 19 How should the tasks be assigned to minimize requirement of manhours?

3. A workshop has four machines and four tasks for completion. Each of the machines can perform each of the four tasks. Time taken at each of the machines to complete each task is given in the matrix below: How should the tasks be assigned to machines to minimize requirement of machine hours? TASK MACHINE A B C D Processing time( hrs) 1 51 77 49 55 2 32 34 59 68 3 37 44 70 54 4 55 55 58 55

4. A department head has four subordinates and four tasks for completion. The subordinates differ in their capabilities and tasks differ in their work contents. His estimates of time for each task-subordinate combination is as under: Task Subordinates I II III IV A 17 35 26 20 B 22 37 13 35 C 47 28 27 24 D 28 35 33 19

5. A pharmaceutical company has four branches, one each at city A,B,C and D. A branch manager is to be appointed one at each city, out of four candidates P,Q, R and S. The monthly business depends upon the city and the effectiveness of the branch manager in that city. Branch City Manager A B C D Monthly Business ( Rs. Lakhs) P 11 11 9 9 Q 13 16 11 10 R 12 17 13 8 S 16 14 16 12 Which manager should be appointed at which city so as to get maximum total monthly business?

6. A departmental head has three subordinates and four tasks for completion. The employees differ in their capabilities and the tasks differ in their work contents. With the performance matrix given below, which three of the four tasks should be assigned to the subordinates? Subordinates Tasks I II III A 9 12 11 B 8 13 17 C 20 12 13 D 21 15 17

7. A gear manufacturer requires 2,000 numbers per month of each of the six types of gears. Six machines are available to process these gears. The gears differ in their work contents and machines differ in their capabilities. The production control department has prepared the machine wise cost matrix as shown below: Gear Machines M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 I 15 18 13 10 14 II 20 16 12 14 18 15 III 19 16 15 19 20 IV 30 42 38 35 36 V 6 8 10 12 9 10 VI 13 12 16 14 15 18

Gear I cannot be assigned to machine 5, Gear III cannot be assigned to M4, Gear IV cannot be assigned to M2. Find the optimum assignment schedule. 8. A company has four jobs, the following matrix shows the cost of assigning each job to each machine. How should the tasks be assigned to minimise total cost? JOBS MACHINES M1 M2 M3 M4 W1 40 50 60 65 W2 30 38 46 48 W3 25 33 41 43 W4 39 45 51 59