CHAPTER 4

ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS
(MODELS)

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES

 Describing the nature and use of assignment

problems;
 Using the assignment models to solve problems;

 Dealing with special cases of assignment problems.

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4.1. ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS
ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS (AP): MEANING
 refers to the class of LPPs that involves determining the most
efficient assignment of people to projects, salespeople to
territories, contracts to bidders ,jobs to machines, and
so on
 The problem of assignment arises because available
resources such as personnel, machines, etc have varying
degrees of efficiency for performing different activities/jobs.
OBJECTIVE
 To assign a number of resources to an equal number of
activities so as to minimize total costs or total time or

maximize total profit of allocation.
ASSUMPTIONS
 Number of jobs is equal to the number of machines or
persons or m=n
 Each man or machine is loaded with one and only one job.
 Each man or machine is independently capable of handling
any of the jobs being presented.
 Loading criteria must be clearly specified such as
“minimizing operating time” or “maximizing profit” ,or
“minimizing production cost” or “minimizing
throughout (production cycle) time ” etc.
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ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS…
The Assignment Table
Example 1: Service costs of different team assignment ($ in thousands)

Z
Z3
SC Z1 Z2

S1 20 15 31

S2 17 16 33

S3 18 19 27

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4.2. SOLVING FOR ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS

1. Hungarian Method/Flood’s
Technique/
 works on the principle of reducing the given cost

matrix (the principle of matrix reduction) to a

matrix of opportunity costs, which means that by
subtracting and adding appropriate numbers in the
cost table or matrix, we can reduce the problem to a

matrix of opportunity costs (OC).

 If we can reduce the cost matrix to the extent of having

at least one zero (OC) in each row and column, then it

will be possible
12/04/24 to make optimal assignments.
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4.2. SOLVING FOR ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS
STEPS IN SOLVING ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS
Step 1: Develop the cost table from the given
problem
Step 2: Find the opportunity cost table
a. Perform row operation
 Locate the smallest element in each row of the given cost table and
then subtract that from each element of that row.
b. Perform column operation
 In the reduced matrix obtained from 2(a), locate the smallest
element in each column and then subtract that from each element of
that column. Notice that each row and each column now have at
least one zero value.
Step 3.Test for an optimal assignment
a. Draw the minimum number of Horizontal and/or Vertical
lines necessary to cover all zeros costs. Draw the lines by
trial and error but always try to cover two or more zeros with one line.
b. Count the number of lines
 If the number of lines equals either the number of rows or

columns in the table, an optimal assignment can be made. If the

number of lines is less than the number of rows or columns, an
improvement is possible (we proceed to step 4).
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SOLVING FOR ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS…
Step 4.Improve the present opportunity cost
table (matrix)
a. Find the smallest entry in the uncovered cells (cells
with no lines through them) and subtract it from all
entries in the uncovered cells.
b. Add the same smallest entry to those cells in which
the lines intersect (cells with two lines them)
c. Cells with one line through them are transferred
(i.e. unchanged to the improved table).
 In those problems where the first improvement
does not yield an optimal solution, we keep on
improving the solution by repeating step 4 until an
optimal solution is achieved.
Step 5: Make an optimal assignment
 An optimal assignment should be made to cells with
a zero entry, maintaining the one-to-one
requirement
 If more than one optimal solution exists, a trial-and –
error approach can be used to find all possible
combination assignments in the zero cells.
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SOLVING FOR ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS…

Example 2
A department has five employees with five
jobs to be performed. The cost (in $ 100)
each employee will incur to perform each
job is given in the following matrix.

Required
 How should the jobs be allocated, one per
employee, so as to minimize the total cost?

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SOLVING FOR ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS…

Step 1: Develop the cost table from the given problem

Employees

I II III IV V

A 10 5 13 15 16

B 3 9 18 13 6

JOBS C 10 7 2 2 2

D 7 11 9 7 12

E 7 9 10 4 12

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SOLVING FOR ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS…

Step 2: Find the opportunity cost table

a. Perform row b. Perform Column

operation operation

Employees Employees

I II III IV V I II III IV V

A A 5 0 8 10 11
5 0 8 10 11 Jobs
Jobs
B B 0 6 15 10 3
0 6 15 10 3
C C 8 5 0 0 0
8 5 0 0 0
D D 0 4 2 0 5
0 4 2 0 5
E E 3 5 6 0 8
3 5 6 0 8

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SOLVING FOR ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS…

Step 3.Test for an optimal assignment

a. Draw the minimum number of Horizontal and/or
Vertical lines necessary to cover all zeros costs.
always try to cover two or more zeros with one line.
b. Count the number of lines

Employees

I II III IV V No of Lines (4)

A <
5 0 8 10 11
B No of Rows/Columns (5)
0 6 15 10 3
C 8 5 0 0 0 i.e, the solution is not
D optimal
0 4 2 0 5
E 3 5 6 0 8
Jobs

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SOLVING FOR ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS…
Step 4.Improve the present opportunity cost table (matrix)
a. Find the smallest entry in the uncovered cells (cells with no lines
through them) and subtract it from all entries in the uncovered cells.
b. Add the same smallest entry to those cells in which the lines
intersect (cells with two lines them)
c. Cells with one line through them are transferred (i.e. unchanged to
the improved table)

Employees
No of Lines (5)
=
I II III IV V
A
No of Rows/Columns (5)
5 0 6 10 9
B 0 6 13 10 1 i.e, the solution is
C
optimal
10 7 0 2 0
D 0 4 0 0 3
E 3 5 4 0 6
Jobs
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SOLVING FOR ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS…
Step 5: Make an optimal assignment
 An optimal assignment should be made to cells
with a zero entry, maintaining the one-to-one
requirement
 If more than one optimal solution exists, a trial-and
–error approach can be used to find all possible
combination assignments in the zero cells.

Employees

I II III IV V
A 5 0 6 10 9
Jobs All rows (Jobs) are
B 0 6 13 10 1 assigned to All
C
columns (Employees)
10 7 0 2 0
D 0 4 0 0 3
E 3 5 4 0 6
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SOLVING FOR ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS…

Solution
The optimal assignment schedule

Job Employee cost(in $100)

A II 5
B I 3
C V 2
D III 9

E IV 4

Total cost = $2,300

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4.3 ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS - Exercises
Example 3
 A car rental company has one car at each of five depots a, b, c,
d and e. A customer in each of the five towns A, B, C, D and E
requires a car. The distance in (in kilometers) between the
depots and towns where the customers are, is given in the
following distance matrix:
Required
 How should the cars be assigned to the customers so as to
minimize the distance traveled?

I II III IV \V
A 160 130 175 190 200

B 135 120 130 160 175

C 140 110 155 170 185

D 50 50 90 80 110

E 55 35 70 80 105

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4.4. SPECIAL CASES IN THE ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS
I. Multiple Optimal Solutions
 While making an assignment in the reduced assignment matrix, it is
possible to have two or more ways to strike off a number of zeros.
 no unique 0 will exist at some point, resulting in more than one
choice for assignment and hence, more than one optimal solution.
 In such cases the more suitable solution may be considered by the
decision-maker.
Example1
 Given this final assignment table, identify two optimal solutions.

Job Machine (Estimated time in minute)

1 2 3

A 4 0 0
B 0 3 2
C 1 0 0

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SPECIAL CASES IN THE ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS…
II. Maximization case in assignment problems
 converting the given maximization problem into a minimization problem.
Adjustment
 Find the largest profit coefficient in the entire assignment table.
 Subtract each entry in the original table from the largest profit
coefficient.
 The transformed assignment problem so obtained can be solved by using
the Hungarian method.
Example 2
 A company has four territories open, and four salesmen available for an
assignment. Based on the past performance, the following table shows the
annual sales (in $) that can be generated by each salesman in each
territory. Find the optimal assignment and the maximum expected total
sales.

I II III IV
A 42 35 28 21

B 30 25 20 15

C 30 25 20 15

D 24 20 16 12
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SPECIAL CASES IN THE ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS…
III. Unbalanced AP(unequal number of rows vs
columns)
 In such cases a dummy row(s) or column(s) are added in the
matrix (with zeros as the cost elements) to make it a square
matrix.
 After making the given cost matrix a square matrix, the
Hungarian method may be used to solve the problem.
Example 3
 MEGA printing press, a publisher headquartered in Addis Ababa,
wants to assign three recently hired college graduates, Marta, Balcha
and Hirut to regional sales districts in Mekelle, Bahir Dar, and Dire
Dawa. But the firm also has an opening in Gambella and would send
one of the three there if it were more economical than a move to
Mekelle, Bahir Dar and Dire Dawa. It will cost Br. 1,000 to relocate
Marta to Gambela, Br. 800 to relocate Baklcha there, and Br. 1,500 to
move Hirut. What is the optimal assignment of personnel to offices?

Mekelle Bahir Dar Dire Dawa

Marta 800 1,100 1,200

Balcha 500 1,600 1,300

Hirut 500 1,000 2,300

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SPECIAL CASES IN THE ASSIGNMENT PROBLEMS…
IV. Restrictions on Assignments
a particular match or pairing may be either undesirable or
otherwise unacceptable.
Adjustment
 the cost of performing that particular activity by a particular
resource is considered to be very large (written as M or  ) so as to
prohibit the entry of this pair of employee-job into the final solution.
 Analysis is performed as usual except the M is ignored throughout
the analysis. That is, M is not used in any reductions, nor is any
value added to it or subtracted from it during the course of the
analysis.
Example 4
 In the modification of a plant layout of a factory four new machines
M1, M2, M3 and M4 are to be installed in a machine shop. There are
five vacant places A, B, C, D and E available. Because of limited
space, machine M2 can not be placed at C and M3 cannot be placed
at A. the cost of placing of machine at place i (in $) is shown below.

A B C D E
M1 9 11 15 10 11
Machine
M2 12 9 - 10 9

M3 - 11 14 11 7

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