Operational Research

Prabhat Mittal
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Prabhat Mittal
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Assignment Problem

Prabhat Mittal
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Introduction

Assignment problems are special class of linear programming problems which involve determining most efficient assignment of people to projects, jobs to machines, salespersons to territories, contract to bidders classes to rooms and so on.
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Prabhat Mittal
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Introduction Ctd. Objectives of studying Assignment problem

The desired objective is most often to minimize total costs or time required to perform the tasks at hand. The assignment is made on a one to one basis i.e. each origin can be associated with one and only destination e.g. allocation of n jobs to n persons, allocation of n projects to n contractors etc.

Prabhat Mittal
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Mathematical Model of the Problem

Minimize Z =
Subject to
n

c
i =1 j =1

ij

x ij

i=1 n

x ij = 1 ,
x
ij

for all I (workers available) for all j (job requirements)

j=1

= 1,

Prabhat Mittal
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Assignment Problem
Job Five men are available to do five different jobs. From past records, the time (in hours) that each man takes to do each job is known and given in the following table. Find the assignment of men to jobs that will minimize the total time taken. I A B C D E II III IV V

2 6 4 4 5

9 8 6 2 3

2 7 5 7 9

7 6 3 3 5

1 1 1 1 1

Prabhat Mittal
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Solution
Subtracting the smallest element of each row from every element of the corresponding row I II III IV V Men I A B C D E 1 5 3 3 4 II 8 7 5 1 2 III 1 6 4 6 8 IV V 6 5 2 2 4 0 0 0 0 0

A 2 B 6 C 4 D 4 E 5

9 8 6 2 3

2 7 5 7 9

7 6 3 3 5

1 1 1 1 1

Prabhat Mittal
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Solution Ctd.
Subtracting the smallest element of each column from every element of the corresponding column
Men I II III IV V

Men I A B C D E 0 4 2 2 3

II 7 6 4 0 1

III 0 5 3 5 7

IV V 4 3 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0

A B C D E

1 5 3 3 4

8 7 5 1 2

1 6 4 6 8

6 5 2 2 4

0 0 0 0 0

Prabhat Mittal
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Solution Ctd.
Start assignment of Men with jobs corresponding to Zero Men A B C D E I 0 4 2 2 3 II 7 6 4 0 1 III
0

IV 4 3 0 0 2

V
0

5 3 5 7

0 0
0 0

E is not assigned any job

Solution Ctd.
Draw minimum no. of lines covering all zero (assigned or not assigned). In general no. of lines= no. of columns -1 Men A B C D E I 0 4 2 2 3 II 7 6 4 0 1 III
0

IV 4 3 0 0 2

V
0

5 3 5 7

0 0
0 0

E is not assigned any job

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Solution Ctd.
Take care for the uncovered elements (blue) and the covered with intersection (black colour) Men A B C D E I 0 4 2 2 3 II 7 6 4 0 1 III
0

IV 4 3 0 0 2

V
0

5 3 5 7

0 0
0 0

Prabhat Mittal
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Solution Ctd.
Find minimum of the uncovered elements (blue colored) =1 Subtract this element form each of uncovered element and add it to the intersection points of the lines Men A B C D E
Prabhat Mittal
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I 0 3 1 2 2

II 7 5 3 0 0

III 0 4 2 5 6

IV 5 3 0 1 2

1 0 0 1 0
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Solution Ctd.
Start Assignments to new matrix Men A B C D E I 0 3 1 2 2 II 7 5 3 0 0 III 0 4 2 5 6 IV 5 3 0 1 2 V 1 0 0 1 0

E is not assigned any job again. Hence repeat the process

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Solution Ctd.
Draw minimum no. of lines covering all zero (assigned or not assigned). In general no. of lines= no. of columns -1

Men A B C D E
Prabhat Mittal
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I 0 3 1 2 2

II 7 5 3 0
0

III
0

IV 5 3 0 1 2

V 1 0
0

4 2 5 6

1
0
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Solution Ctd.
Start assignment with new matrix (minimum of uncovered element is subtracted from the uncovered and added to the intersection

Men A B C D E
Prabhat Mittal
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I 0 2 0 1 1

II 8 5 3 0 0

III 0 3 1 4 5

IV 6 3 0 1 2

V 2 0 0 1 0
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Solution Ctd.
Repeat the process of drawing lines

Men A B C D E
Prabhat Mittal
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I 0 2 0 1 1

II 8 5 3 0 0

III 0 3 1 4 5

IV 6 3 0 1 2

V 2 0 0 1 0
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Solution Ctd.
Start assignment with the new matrix (minimum of uncovered element=1 is subtracted from uncovered and added to intersections

Men A B C D E

I 0 1 0 0 0

II 9 5 4 0 0

III 0 2 1 3 4

IV 6 2 0 0 1

V 3 0 1 1 0

Assignments A-III------2 B-V------1 C-IV-----3 D-I-------4 E-II------3

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Some facts about Assignment problem

In an assignment problem if a constant is added or subtracted from every element of any row or column in the given cost matrix then an assignment that minimizes the total cost in one matrix also minimizes the total cost in the other matrix. Some times due to certain reason, an assignment cannot be made in a particular cell. To resolve this we put either a very large cost say M or (-) to avoid (assignments in those cells where there is a restriction of assignment.
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Prabhat Mittal
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Some facts about Assignment problem

In some cases the pay off matrix of the assignment problem may represent revenues or profits instead of costs, in such cases the the problem of maximization is converted in to minimization by selecting the largest element among all elements in the profit matrix and then subtracting it from all other elements in the matrix. We can then proceed as usual and obtain the optimum solution by adding the original values of these cells to which the the assignments have been made. In case the pay off matrix is not a square matrix then it is made so made by introducing a dummy row or a column and the cost associated is assigned zero element in the matrix.

Prabhat Mittal
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Excel worksheet

Prabhat Mittal
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Practice Question
An automobile dealer wishes to put four repairmen to four different jobs. The repairmen have somewhat different kinds of skills and they exhibit different levels of efficiency from one job to another. The dealer has estimated the number of man hours that would be required for each job man combination. This is given in the matrix form in adjacent table
Jobs I A B C D 5 7 6 5 II 3 9 4 7 III 2 2 5 7 IV 8 6 7 8

Prabhat Mittal
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21

Excel worksheet

Prabhat Mittal
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