Assignment Problems (Hungerian Method)

An assignment problem is a particular case of transportation problem where the objective is to assign a
number of resources to an equal number of activities so as to minimize total cost or maximize total profits
of allocations. It is of two types such as;
1) Balanced Assignment Problem (No. of Rows = no .of Column)
2) Unbalanced Assignment Problem (No. of Rows ǂ no .of Column, here add dummy Row and
column for convert the unbalanced into balanced assignment problems)
Application of Assignment problems:

 Assignment problem arises in diverse situations, where one needs to determine an optimal way to
assign subjects to subjects in the best possible way.
 It is widely applied in dealing with assignment allocation, personnel selection, the programming
of transport system and other practical issues such as Manufacturing (Operator Vs. Machines),
Computer Programming (Prograames Vs. Programmers), Transportation (Origin Vs. Destination)
etc.

Manufacturing (Operator Vs. Machines) Transportation (Origin Vs. Destination)

Hungerian Methods

 Hungerian Method of assignment provides the optimal solution without having to make a direct
comparison of every solution.
 It works on the principle of reducing the given cost matrix to a matrix of opportunity costs.
 Opportunity cost shows the relative penalties associated with assigning resources to an activity as
opposed to making the best or least cost assignment.
 If it can reduce the cost matrix to the extent of having at least one zero in each row and column ,
it will be possible to make optimal solution.
Steps in Hungerian Methods:
Step-1 :
(Phase -1): Row and Column Reductions:
 i. Subtract the minimum value of each row from the entries of that row.
ii. Subtract the minimum value of each column from the entries of that column.
(Phase -2): Optimization of the Problems:
Procedure: Draw a minimum no. of lines to cover all the zeroes of the matrix.
Row Scanning:

 Starting from the first row, ask the following questions. Is there exactly one zero in that row? If
yes mark a square around that zero entry and draws vertical line passing through that zero,
otherwise skip that row.
 After scanning the last row, check whether all the zeroes are covered with lines. If yes go to step -
2, otherwise do the column scanning.
Column Scanning:

 Starting from the first Column, ask the following questions. Is there exactly one zero in that
Column? If yes mark a square around that zero entry and draws Horizontal line passing through
that zero, otherwise skip that Column.
 After scanning the last column , check whether all the zeroes are covered with lines.
Step-2: Check whether the number of square marked is equal to the number of rows of the matrix. If yes
go to step-5, otherwise go to step-3.
Step-3: Identify the minimum value of the undeleted cell values

 Add the minimum undeleted cell value at the intersection points of the present matrix.
 Subtract the minimum undeleted cell value from all the undeleted cell values
 All other entries remain same.
Step-4: Go to step-1.
Step-5: Treat the solution as marked by the square as the optimal solution.

Example-1:
In a computer Centre after studying carefully the three experts programmes, the head of computer centre,
estimates the computer times in minutes required by the experts for the application programmes as
follows;

Programmes

A B C

1 120 100 80
Programmers 2 80 90 110
3 110 140 120
Assign the programmers to the programmes in such a way that the total computer time is minimum.
Solution:
Step-1: Row Reduction

Programmes

A B C Row
Reduction
1 120 100 80 80
Programmers 2 80 90 110 80
3 110 140 120 110

A B C

1 40 20 0
2 0 10 30
3 0 30 10
Step-2: Column Reduction

A B C

1 40 20 0
Programmers 2 0 10 30
3 0 30 10
Column Reduction 0 10 0

A B C

1 40 10 0
2 0 0 30
3 0 20 10

Step-3: Row & Column Scanning

A B C

1 40 10 0
2 0 0 30

3 0 20 10

Since Number of Assignments = Number of Rows

i.e. 3 = 3 (Optimal Solution is Obtained)

Optimal Solution Table:

 Programmers programmes Time (Mints)
1 C 80
2 B 90
3 A 100
Total = 280 (Ans.)

Example-2: A manager for a chip manufacturing company and manager currently have three people on
the road meeting clients. Company sales people are in Jaipur, Pune and Bengaluru and manager wants
them to fly to three other cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, and Kerala. The table below shows the cost of
airlines tickets in INR between the cities;

Delhi Mumbai Kerala

Jaipur 2500 4000 3500

Pune 4000 6000 3500
Bengaluru 2000 4000 2500
Solution:
Step-1: Row Reduction

Delhi Mumbai Kerala Row

Reduction
Jaipur 2500 4000 3500 2500
Pune 4000 6000 3500 3500
Bengalur 2000 4000 2500 2000
u

Delhi Mumbai Kerala

Jaipur 0 1500 1000

Pune 500 2500 0
Bengaluru 0 2000 500
Step-2: Column Reduction

Delhi Mumbai Kerala

Jaipur 0 0 1000
Pune 500 1000 0
Bengaluru 0 500 500
Column 0 1500 0
Reduction
Step-3: Row & Column Scanning

Delhi Mumbai Kerala

Jaipur 0 0 1000

Pune 500 1000 0

Bengaluru 0 500 500
Since Number of Assignments = Number of Rows
i.e. 3 = 3 (Optimal Solution is Obtained)
So the Optimal Cost = 4000+3500+2000= 9500/- (Ans.)
Example-3: In a bolt manufacturing company five number of highly skilled operator are assigned to five
different machines as per the following distribution given below, calculate the total time by using
Hungerian methods.

Operators

1 2 3 4 5

M1 9 11 14 11 7

M2 6 15 13 13 10

Jobs M3 12 13 6 8 8

M4 11 9 10 12 9

M5 7 12 14 10 14

Solution:
Step-1: Row Reduction

Operators Row
Reduction
1 2 3 4 5

M1 9 11 14 11 7 7

M2 6 15 13 13 10 6

Jobs M3 12 13 6 8 8 6

M4 11 9 10 12 9 9

M5 7 12 14 10 14 7

Operators

1 2 3 4 5

M1 2 4 7 4 0
M2 0 9 7 7 4
M3 6 7 0 2 2
M4 2 0 1 3 0
Jobs M5 0 5 7 3 7
Step-2: Column Reduction

Operators

1 2 3 4 5

M1 2 4 7 4 0
M2 0 9 7 7 4
M3 6 7 0 2 2
M4 2 0 1 3 0
Jobs M5 0 5 7 3 7
Column 0 0 0 2 0
Reduction

Operators

1 2 3 4 5

M1 2 4 7 2 0
M2 0 9 7 5 4
M3 6 7 0 0 2
M4 2 0 1 1 0
Jobs M5 0 5 7 1 7

Step-3: Row & Column Scanning

Operators

1 2 3 4 5

M1 2 4 7 2 0
M2 0 9 7 5 4

M3 6 7 0 0 2
Jobs
M4 2 0 1 1 0

M5 0 5 7 1 7

Since Number of Assignments ≠ Number of Rows

i.e. 4 ≠ 5 (Optimal Solution is not Obtained)
So go to next step-3.
 Operators

1 2 3 4 5

M1 2 4 6 1 0
M2 0 9 6 4 4

M3 7 8 0 0 3
Jobs
M4 2 0 0 0 0

M5 0 5 6 0 7

Since Number of Assignments = Number of Rows

i.e. 5 = 5 (Optimal Solution Obtained)
Optimal Solution Table:

Jobs Operators Time (Mints)

M1 5 7
M2 1 6
M3 3 6
M4 2 9
M5 4 10
Total = 38 (Ans.)

Prepared By
Manoj Kumar Rout
Asst. Professor (OM)

****XXX***