St.

Joseph’s College of Commerce (Autonomous), Bangalore

ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS

Assignment problems in LPP are a special type of linear programming problems where the objective is to
minimize the cost or time of completing a number of jobs by a number of persons. Assignment should
be on a one-to-one basis (i.e., two jobs cannot be assigned to the same person, and two persons cannot
be assigned the same job).

Features of Assignment Problems:

1. Objective: The objective is either to maximize Profit/ Revenue/Sales or to Minimize Cost/Time.

2. Nature of data: ‘m’ jobs/products are to be assigned to ‘n’ persons/facilities. It is not always
necessary that m=n. If they are equal, data is said to be balanced, otherwise, data is said to be
unbalanced.
3. Conditions: Assignment should be on a one-to-one basis (i.e., two jobs cannot be assigned to
the same person, and two persons cannot be assigned the same job).

Procedure for determining the Optimal Solution under Hungarian Algorithm Method

Step Description
1 Verify objective = Minimization.
In case objective = Maximization, convert the same into an Opportunity Loss Matrix, by
subtracting each number from the highest number in the matrix.
2 Verify nature of data = Balanced.
Data is said to be balance when number of rows is equal to the number of columns.
In case data is unbalanced, add a dummy row or column as required, with all elements being
zero.
3 Perform Row Operations. Subtract the smallest number in each row from all element of that
row.
4 Perform Column Operations. In the resultant matrix from step 3, subtract the smallest number
in each column from all the elements of that column.
5 Draw the minimum number of horizontal and vertical lines to cover all zeroes in the matrix.
Optimal Assignment is possible only if No. of lines drawn = Order of the matrix.
6 In case, number of lines < order of the matrix, increase the number of zeroes as under:
a) Select the smallest number not covered by the lines. (Call this as Least Open Element,
i.e., LOE)
b) Rewrite the matrix, with the following adjustments:-
i) Open Elements, i.e., not covered by any line: Previous Element minus LOE.
ii) Covered Elements, i.e., covered by one line only: No Change.
iii) Junction Elements, i.e., covered by intersection of two lines: Previous element
plus LOE.
Repeat step 5 for such revised matrix till number of lines drawn = Order of the matrix.
7 Optimal Assignment is made in the following manner:
a) Go row-wise, identify a row with only one zero.
b) Select this zero as an assignment by drawing a box around it.
c) Cancel all zeroes in that column since the same job cannot be assigned to a different
facility.
d) Continue this procedure with columns and complete the assignment.

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 St. Joseph’s College of Commerce (Autonomous), Bangalore

In case of multiple optimal solution or ties up to the last stage, arbitrary assignment can be
made.

Treatment in special cases:

Situation Treatment
Maximization a) Identify the highest element in the given maximization matrix.
Objective b) Subtract each element in the matrix from the highest element. This is called
the Opportunity Loss Matrix. Continue the assignment procedure in this
matrix.
Note: The Opportunity Loss Matrix should not have any negative elements.
Unbalanced Insert a dummy row or column, with all entries equal to zero.
Matrix Note: Insert dummy after converting into Opportunity Loss Matrix, if required.
Prohibited a) Where a particular job cannot be assigned to a particular individual, it is called
Assignment prohibited assignment (Restrictive Condition).
b) Such routes/cells are given a high cost ‘M’, where M = infinity cost.
Condition a) Where a particular job should be assigned only to a particular individual, it is
Assignment or called as Facilitative Condition.
Facilitative b) Delete that row and column and reduce the matrix and continue the
Condition procedure.

PROBLEMS

1. Four operators A, B, C and D are available to a manager who has to get four jobs J1, J2, J3 and J4
done by assigning one job to each operator. The time needed by different operators for different
jobs are given in the matrix below (in minutes):
Operator / Jobs J1 J2 J3 J4
A 12 10 10 8
B 14 12 15 11
C 6 10 16 4
D 8 10 9 7
a) How should the manager assign the job so that the total time needed for all jobs is minimum?
b) If job J1 is to be assigned only to Operator A, what should be the assignment and how much
additional total time will be required?

2. An electronic data processing center has 3 expert software professionals. The center wants 3
application software programs to be developed. The head of electronic data processing center
estimates the computer time in minutes required by the experts for development of application
software programs as follows:
Software programs Computer time (minutes)
A B C
1 100 85 70
2 50 70 110
3 110 120 130

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 St. Joseph’s College of Commerce (Autonomous), Bangalore

Assign the software professionals to the applications to ensure minimum usage of computer time.

3. A BPO Co. is taking bid for 4 routes in the city to ply pick up and drop cabs. 4 companies have made
bids as detailed below:
R1 R2 R3 R4
C1 4000 5000 - -
C2 - 4000 - 4000
C3 3000 - 2000 -
C4 - - 4000 5000
Each bidder can be assigned one route. Determine the minimum cost that the BPO should incur.

4. A Toy Co. has 4 men available for work on 4 separate jobs. Only one man can work on anyone job.
The cost of assigning each man to each job is given in the following table. The objective is to assign
men to jobs in such as way that the total cost assignment is minimum. You are required to
determine the minimum cost.
Person J1 J2 J3 J4
A 20 25 22 28
B 15 18 23 17
C 19 17 21 24
D 25 23 24 24

5. At the end of a cycle of a cycle of schedules, a trucking firm has a surplus of one vehicle in each of
the cities 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 and a deficit of one vehicle in each of the city’s A, B, C, D, E and F. the costs
(in rupees) of transportation and handling between the cities with a surplus and cities with a deficit
are shown in the following table.
A B C D E F
1 134 116 167 233 194 97
2 114 195 260 166 175 130
3 129 117 48 94 66 101
4 71 156 92 143 114 136
5 77 134 125 83 142 118
Find the assignment of surplus vehicles to deficit cities that will result in total minimum cost. Which
city will not receive a vehicle?

6. A hospital has to pay nurses for 40 hours per week. One nurse is assigned to one patient. The cost
per hour for each of the nurses is given below:
i) Find the nurse-patient combination to minimize cost to the hospital.
ii) How much does each nurse earn per week?

Nurses Patients
W X Y
K 10 10 30
L 30 10 20
M 20 30 20

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 St. Joseph’s College of Commerce (Autonomous), Bangalore

iii) Suppose a new patient - Z is admitted and that a new nurse - N is appointed and the new
patient is charged Rs. 40 per hour by each the existing nurses and the new nurse charged Rs.
50 per hour irrespective of the patient, what would be your revised calculations?

7. Three different salesmen – X, Y and Z are to be assigned to three different regions – A, B and C, so
that the company’s revenue is maximized. The following matrix gives the sales revenue.

X Y Z
A 10 60 30
B 20 30 15
C 60 40 10
You’re required to use the assignment technique to maximize revenue.

8. A company has 4 zones open and 4 marketing managers available for assignment. The zones are not
equal in sales potentials. It is estimated that a typical marketing manager operating in each zone
would bring in the following annual sales.
Zones East West North South
Sales (Rs. In lakhs) 2.40 1.92 1.44 1.20
The 4 marketing managers are also different in ability. It is estimated that working under the same
conditions, their yearly sales would be proportionately as under:
Manager M N O P
Proportion 8 7 5 4
Required:
If the criteria is maximum expected total sales, find the optimal assignment and the maximum sales.

9. The captain of Playwell Cricket Team has to allot 5 middle order batting positions to 5 batsmen. The
average runs scored by each batsman at these positions are as follows:

Batsman Batting Positions

I II III IV V
P 40 40 35 25 50
Q 42 30 16 25 27
R 50 48 40 60 50
S 20 19 20 18 25
T 58 60 59 55 53
i) Find the assignment of batsman to positions which would give the maximum number of
runs.
ii) What will be the total runs scored if batsman – T, wants only the third position.
iii) If another batsman – U, with the following average runs in batting positions as given below
is added to the team, should he be included to play in the team? If so, who will be replaced
by him?
Batting position I II III IV V
Average runs 45 52 38 50 49

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