Assignment Models

Problem description
• There is a set of employees/workers with varying degree of skill for
doing different jobs.
• A job that match a worker’s skill costs less than that in which the
operator is not as skillful.
• There is also a set of jobs to be completed by the workforce.
• Assumption: One worker does only one job and one job is done by
only one worker.
• Objective: How to optimally assign workers to jobs?
A general assignment model
Jobs
1 2 … … n
1 C11 C12 C1n
Workers 2 C21 C22 C2n
…
…
n Cn1 Cn2 Cnn

Cij = Cost of assigning worker i to job j

Balanced Assignment Model: Number of rows = Number of columns

If Unbalanced, then balance by adding dummy rows/columns and
put Cij = 0 for the dummy rows/columns
Representation of assignment problem as Linear Programming (LP)

n n
Minimize z   cij xij
i 1 j 1

subject to
n

x j 1
ij  1, i  1,2,....n

x
i 1
ij  1, j  1,2,....n

xij  0 or 1
1 if worker i is assigned to job j
xij  
 0 otherwise
Hungarian Method
STEP 1: For the original cost matrix, identify each
row’s minimum and subtract it from all the entries
of the row.

STEP 2: For the matrix resulting from step 1, identify

each column’s minimum and subtract it from all the
entries of the column.

STEP 3: Identify the optimal solution as feasible

assignment associated with 0 elements of the
matrix obtained in step 2.
STEP 3(a): If no feasible assignment (with 0 entries) can be
achieved, (Degeneracy)
(i) Draw the minimum number of horizontal and
vertical lines in the last reduced matrix that will
cover all the 0 entries.
(ii) Select the smallest uncovered element,
- subtract it from every uncovered element
- and then add it to every element at the
intersection of two lines.
(iii) Try for a feasible assignment
(iv) If no feasible assignment can be found among
the resulting 0 entries, repeat step 3(a), till a
feasible assignment is achieved.
Example 1
A computer centre has three expert programmers. The centre wants three
applications to be developed. The head of the centre, after carefully
studying the programs to be developed, estimates the time (in minutes)
required by the experts for the applications as follows. Assign the
programmers to the application programs in such a way that the total
computer time is minimum.

Programmers
A B C
I 120 100 80
Application II 80 90 110
Programs
III 110 140 120
Solution

Programmers
A B C
I 120 100 80
Application II 80 90 110
Programs
III 110 140 120

Row
Row Minimum =80
Minimum =80

Row
Minimum
=110
 Programmers
A B C
I 120 100 80
Application II 80 90 110
Programs
III 110 140 120

Programmers
A B C
I 40 20 0
Application II 0 10 30
Programs
III 0 30 10
 Programmers
A B C
I 40 20 0
Application II 0 10 30
Programs
III 0 30 10

Programmers
A B C
I 40 10 0
Application II 0 0 30
Programs
III 0 20 10
 Programmers
A B C
I 40 10 0
Application II 0 0 30
Programs
III 0 20 10

Programmers
A B C
I 40 10 0
Application II 0 0 30
Programs
III 0 20 10
 Programmers
A B C
I 120 100 80
Application II 80 90 110
Programs
III 110 140 120

Programmers Application Programs Time (in min)

A III 110
B II 90
C I 80
Total Time 280
EXAMPLE 2
Four men are available to work on four different jobs. Only one
man can work on any one job. The cost of assigning each man to
each job is given in the following table. The objective is to assign
men to jobs such that the total cost of assignment is minimum.
Find the optimal assignment.

Jobs
Persons 1 2 3 4
A 20 25 22 28
B 15 18 23 17
C 19 17 21 24
D 25 23 24 24
 Jobs Jobs
Persons 1 2 3 4 Persons 1 2 3 4
A 20 25 22 28 A 0 5 2 8
B 15 18 23 17 B 0 3 8 2
C 19 17 21 24 C 2 0 4 7
D 25 23 24 24 D 2 0 1 1

Jobs Jobs
Persons 1 2 3 4 Persons 1 2 3 4
A 0 5 1 7 A 0 5 1 7
B 0 3 7 1 B 0 3 7 1
C 2 0 3 6 C 2 0 3 6
D 2 0 0 0 D 2 0 0 0
 Jobs Jobs
Persons 1 2 3 4 Persons 1 2 3 4
A 0 5 1 7 A 0 4 0 6
B 0 3 7 1 B 0 2 6 0
C 2 0 3 6 C 3 0 3 6
D 2 0 0 0 D 3 0 0 0

Jobs
Persons 1 2 3 4
A 0 4 0 6
B 0 2 6 0
C 3 0 3 6
D 3 0× 0 0
 Jobs
Persons 1 2 3 4
A 0 4 0× 6 A 1 20
B 0× 2 6 0 B 4 17
Jobs
C 3 0 3 6 C 2 17
Pers 1 2 3 4
ons D 3 0× 0 0× D 3 24
A 0 4 0 6 78
B 0 2 6 0
C 3 0 3 6 Jobs
D 3 0× 0 0 Persons 1 2 3 4
A 0× 4 0 6 A 3 22
B 0 2 6 0× B 1 15
C 3 0 3 6 C 2 17
D 3 0× 0× 0 D 4 24
78
EXAMPLE 3: Three new projects are to be added to a
company. Bids are submitted by five contractors. It has also
been decided that only one project is to be assigned to one
contractor. The bid figures in million rupees are given in the
table below. Find the optimal assignment of projects to the
contractors such that the total cost of all the projects is
minimum.

Projects X Y Z Put a large

Contractors positive
number M for
A 2.90 1.62 - restricted entry
B 3.10 1.75 2.81
C 3.05 1.80 2.90
D 2.85 1.55 2.75
E - 1.70 3.00
 Projects X Y Z Dummy 1 Dummy 2
Contractors
A 2.90 1.62 20 0 0
B 3.10 1.75 2.81 0 0
C 3.05 1.80 2.90 0 0
D 2.85 1.55 2.75 0 0
E 20 1.70 3.00 0 0
Maximization Type Assignment Models
• Convert from maximization-type to minimization-type.
• Subtract all the elements in the given matrix from the largest element.
Apply Hungarian method on the resultant matrix.

62 78 50 101 82
71 84 61 73 59 2. Identify the largest element (111).
87 92 111 71 81 Subtract all the elements from 111.
48 64 87 77 80 49 33 61 10 29
40 27 50 38 52
1. Introduce a dummy row to balance the
problem 24 19 0 40 30

62 78 50 101 82 63 47 24 34 31

71 84 61 73 59 111 111 111 111 111

87 92 111 71 81
3. Minimize this resultant matrix
48 64 87 77 80
0 0 0 0 0
EXAMPLE: An Airline, operating seven days a week, has given the
following schedule of its flights between New Delhi and Mumbai. The
crews should have a minimum of five hours break between the flights.
Obtain the pairing of the flights that minimizes layover time away from
home. For any given pairing, the crew will be based at the city that
results in the smallest layover.

New Delhi – Mumbai Mumbai – New Delhi

Flight No. Departure Arrival Flight No. 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
 New Delhi – Mumbai Mumbai – New Delhi
Flight No. Departure Arrival Flight No. 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

Layover Time: Crew at New Delhi Layover Time: Crew at Mumbai

Flight No 201 202 203 204 Flight No 201 202 203 204
101 24 25 6 11 101 20 19 14 9
102 22 23 28 9 102 22 21 16 11
103 16 17 22 27 103 28 27 22 17
104 10 11 16 21 104 10 9 28 23

Layover Time: Crew at New Delhi/Mumbai

Flight No 201 202 203 204
101 20 19 6 9
102 22 21 16 9
103 16 17 22 17
104 10 9 16 21
 Flight No 201 202 203 204
101 0 0 1 0
102 0 0 0 1
103 1 0 0 0
104 0 1 0 0

Layover Time: Crew at New Delhi/Mumbai

Flight No 201 202 203 204
101 20 19 6 9
102 22 21 16 9
103 16 17 22 17
104 10 9 16 21

Flight No Flight No Layover Time Crew based at

101 203 6 New Delhi
Total Layover
102 204 9 New Delhi Time = 40 hours
103 201 16 New Delhi
104 202 9 Mumbai
Figure below gives layout of a machine shop with its existing work centers designated by
squares 1, 2, 3, and 4. Four new work centers, I, II, III, and IV, are to be added at the
locations designated by circles a, b, c, and d. The objective is to assign the new centers to
the proposed locations to minimize the total materials handling traffic between the existing
centers and the proposed ones. Table summarizes the frequency of trips between the new
centers and the old ones. Materials handling travels along the rectangular aisles intersecting
at the locations of the centers. For example, the one-way travel distance (in meters)
between center 1 and location b is 30 + 20 = 50 m.
=
Optimum
assignment:
I-d, II-c, III-a,
IV-b.