THE ASSIGNMENT METHOD

An efficient method for solving an assignment problem as developed by the Hungarian

Mathematician D. Konig is summarized below:-
tep !. . Determine the cost " time table for the given problem:-
#i$ %f the number of sources is e&ual to the number of destinations' go to step (.
#ii$ %f the number of sources is not e&ual to the number of destinations' go to step ).
tep ). Add a dummy source or dummy destination' so that the cost " time table
becomes a &uare Matri*. +he cost"time entries of dummy source"destinations are
always zero.
tep (. ,ocate the smallest element in each' row of the given cost matri* and then
subtract the same from each element of that row. #row reduction$
tep -. %n the reduced matri* obtained in step (' locate the smallest element of each
column and then subtract the same from each element of that column. .ach /olumn
and row now have at least one zero. #column reduction$
tep 0. %n the modified matri* 1btained %n step -' search for an optimal assignment as
follows
#a$ .*amine the rows successively until a row with a single zero is found. .nractangle
this zero #2$ and cross off #*$ all other zeros in its column. /ontinue in this manner until
all the rows have been ta3en care of.
#b$ 4epeat the procedure for each column of the reduced matri*.
c$ %f a row and"or column has two or more zeros and one cannot be chosen by
inspection the assign arbitrary anyone' of these' zeros and cross off all other zeros of
the row"column.
d$ 4epeat #a$ through #c$ above successively until the chain of assigning #2$ or cross #*$
ends.
tep 5. %f the number of assignments #2$is e&ual to n #the order of the cost matri*$' an
optimum solution is reached. %f the number of assignments is less than n #the order of
the matri*$' go to the ne*t step.
tep 6. Draw the minimum number of horizontal and"or vertical lines to cover all the
zeros of the reduced matri*. +his can be conveniently done by using a simple
procedure:-
#a$ Mar3 #7$#tic3$ rows that do not have any assigned zero.
#b$ Mar3 #7$#tic3$ columns that have crossed zeros %n the mar3ed rows"tic3ed rows.
#c$ Mar3 #7$#tic3$ rows that have assigned zero in the mar3ed columns"tic3ed column.
#d$ 4epeat #b$ and #c$ above until the chain of mar3ing is completed.
#e$ Draw lines through all the unmarked rows and marked columns. +his gives us the
desired minimum number of lines. #After having done this one must notice the
uncovered elements and observe that all the zeros have been covered by the lines.$
tep 8. Develop the new revised cost matri* as follows:-
#a$ 9ind the smallest element of the reduced matri* not covered by any of the lines.
#b$ ubtract this element from all the uncovered elements and add the same to all the
elements lying at the intersection of any two lines.
tep :. ;o to tep 5 and repeat the procedure until an optimum solution is attained.