Business Math / Operation Research

Worksheet
Assignments Problem
1. A Marketing Manager has 4 subordinates and 4 tasks. His estimates of the time each subordinate
would take to perform each task is given in the matrix below. How should the task be allocated one
to one man so that the total man-hours are minimized?
I II III IV
1 16 52 34 22
2 26 56 8 52
3 76 38 36 30
4 38 52 48 20
[Ans.: Minimum time taken = 82 hours]
2. Find the optimal solution for the assignment problem with the following cost matrix:
Marketing Executive Division
N E W S
A 14 20 11 19
B 12 10 15 9
C 16 19 18 15
D 17 13 15 14
[Ans.: Total minimum cost Rs. 49]
3. A manager has 4 subordinates and 4 tasks. The subordinates differ in efficiency. His estimate of the
production each would do is given in the table. How the task should be allocated one to one man,
so that total production is maximized.
Subordinates
Task I II III IV
1 8 26 17 11
2 13 28 4 26
3 38 19 18 15
4 19 26 24 10
[Ans.: Optimal Production is 114 units]
4. An organization producing 4 different products viz. A, B, C, and D having 4 operators viz. P, Q, R
and S, who are capable of producing any of the four products, works effectively 7 hours a day. The
time (in minutes) required for each operator for producing each of the product are given in the cells
of the following matrix along with profit (Rs. Per unit):
Products
Operators A B C D
P 6 10 14 12
Q 7 5 3 4
R 6 7 10 10
S 20 10 15 15
Profit (Rs./unit) 3 2 4 1
Find the optimal assignment of operators to products which will maximize the profit.
[Ans.: Operator Product Profit
P A 210
Q C 560
R B 120
S D 28]
5. A has one surplus truck in each cities A, B, C, D & E and one deficit truck in each of the cities 1,
2, 3, 4, 5 & 6. The distance between the cities in kilometers is shown in the matrix below.

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Cities 1 2 3 4 5 6
A 12 10 15 22 18 8
B 10 18 25 15 16 12
C 11 10 3 8 5 9
D 6 14 10 13 13 12
E 8 12 11 7 3 10
Find the assignment of trucks from the cities in surplus to cities in deficit so that the total distance
covered by vehicles in minimum.
[Ans.: Optimum Distance is 34 kms]
6. Given the revenue and cost data, obtain which product each plant should produce to maximize
profit.
Sales revenue (in Rs 000)
Plant 1 2 3 4
A 50 68 49 62
B 60 70 51 74
C 55 67 53 70
D 58 65 54 69
Production cost
Plant 1 2 3 4
A 49 60 45 61
B 55 63 45 69
C 52 62 49 68
D 55 64 48 66
7. The captain of a cricket team has to allot five middle bating positions to five batsman. The average
runs scored by each batsman at these positions are as follows :
Batting positions.
Batsman 1 2 3 4 5
P 40 40 35 25 50
Q 42 30 16 25 27
R 50 48 40 60 50
S 20 19 20 18 25
T 58 60 59 55 53
(i) Find the assignment of positions which would give the maximum number of runs.
(ii) If another batsman U with the following average runs Is added to the team ,:
Batting positions 1 2 3 4 5
Average runs 45 52 38 50 49
should he be included to play in the team ? If so , who will be replaced by whom ?
8. Indian Airlines that operates seven days a week has a time table shown below . Crews must have a
minimum lay over of 6 hours between flights. Obtain the pairing that minimizes layover time away
from home. For any given pairing the crew will be based at the city that results in the smaller
layover :

Flight Delhi Depart Calcutta Flight no Calcutta Delhi Arrival

no Arrival Depart
1 7.00 A.M 9.00 A.M 101 9.00 A.M 11.00 A.M
2 9:00 A. M 11:00 A.M 102 10:00 A.M 12:00 Noon
3 1.30 P.M 3.30 P.M 103 3.30 P.M 5:30 P.M
4 7:30 P.M 9:30 P.M 104 8:00 P.M 10:00 P.M
9. Given the following matrix of set up costs , show how to sequence production so as to minimize
setup cost per cycle.
A B C D E
A ---- 2 5 7 1

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B 6 -- 3 8 2
C 8 7 --- 4 7
D 12 4 6 --- 5
E 1 3 2 8 ---
10. Solve the following problem with the following distance matrix.
To
1 2 3 4 5
1 -- 16 12 26 43
2 8 -- 12 14 12
3 9 15 -- 10 17
4 13 16 32 --- 19
5 8 10 14 18 ---
11. A solicitors firm employs typists on hourly piece-rate basis for their daily work. There are five
typists and their charges and speed are different. According to an earlier undertaking only one job is
given to one typist and the typist is paid for full hour even if he works for a fraction of an hour.
Find the least cost allocation:
Typist Rate per hour(Rs) No. of page Typed/hour
A 5 12
B 6 14
C 3 8
D 4 10
E 4 11

Job No of pages
P 199
Q 175
R 145
S 298
T 178
12. A manufacturer of complex electronic equipment has just received a sizable contract and plans to
subcontract part of the job. He has solicited bids for 6 subcontracts from 4 firms. Each jobs is
sufficiently large that any one firm can take only 1 job. The table below shows the bids and the cost
estimates (in Rs. ‘000’) for doing the jobs internally. Note that no more than 2 jobs can be
performed internally.
Job
Job
Firm 1 2 3 4 5 6

1 48 72 36 52 50 65
2 44 67 41 53 48 64
3 46 69 40 45 45 68
4 43 73 37 51 44 62
Internal 50 65 35 50 46 63
13. WELLDONE Company has taken the third floor of a multi-storied building for rent with a view to
locate one of their zonal offices. There are five main rooms in this floor to be assigned to five
managers. Each room has its own advantages and disadvantages. Some have windows; some are
closer to the washrooms or to the canteen or secretarial pool. The rooms are of all different sizes
and shapes. Each of the five managers was asked to rank their room preferences amongst the
rooms 301, 302, 303, 304 and 305. Their preferences were recorded in a table as indicated below:

MANAGER

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M1 M2 M3 M4 M5
302 302 303 302 301
303 304 301 305 302
304 305 304 304 304
* 301 305 303 *
* * 302 * *
Most of the managers did not list all the five rooms since they were not satisfied with some of
these rooms and they have left off these from the list. Assuming that their preferences can be
quantified by numbers, find out as to which manager should be assigned to which room so that
their total preference ranking is a minimum.
14. Solve the minimal assignment problem whose effectiveness matrix is
Men
Jobs 1 2 3 4
I 2 3 4 5
II 4 5 6 7
III 7 8 9 8
IV 3 5 8 4
[Ans.: Optimal cost is Rs. 20/-]
15. The cost matrix giving selling costs per unit of a product by salesman A, B, C and D in Regions R1,
R2, R3 and R4 is given below:
(i) Assign one salesman to one region to minimize selling cost.
(ii) If the selling price of the product is Rs. 200 per unit and variable cost excluding the selling
cost given in the table is Rs. 100 per unit, find the assignment that would maximize the
contribution.
(iii) What other conclusion can you make from the above?

A B C D
R1 4 12 16 8
R2 20 28 32 24
R3 36 44 48 40
R4 52 60 64 56
[Ans.: R1->A, R2->B, R3 ->C and R4->D with minimum selling cost as Rs. 136; (ii) R1->A, R2-
>B, R3 ->C and R4->D with maximum contribution as Rs. 264; (iii) Multiple Optimal Solutions are
available for both (i) & (ii)]

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