Introduction

It involves assignment of people to projects,

jobs to machines, workers to jobs and teachers
to classes etc., while minimizing the total
assignment costs.
One of the important characteristics of
assignment problem is that only one job (or
worker) is assigned to one machine (or project).
An assignment problem is a special type of linear
programming problem where the objective is
minimize the cost or time of completing a
number of jobs by a number of persons.
 This method was developed by D. Konig, a
Hungarian mathematician and is therefore
known as the Hungarian method of
assignment problem.
In order to use this method, one needs to
know only the cost of making all the possible
assignments.
Each assignment problem has a matrix (table)
associated with it. Normally, the objects (or
people) one wishes to assign are expressed in
rows, whereas the columns represent the
tasks (or things) assigned to them.
The number in the table would then be the
Costs associated with each particular
assignment.
Application Areas of Assignment Problem
Though assignment problem finds
applicability in various diverse business
situations, we discuss some of its main
application areas:
assigning machines to factory orders.
In assigning sales/ marketing people to sales
territories.
In assigning Contracts to bidders by
systematic bid-evaluation.
In assigning teachers to classes.
In assigning accountants to accounts of the
clients.
Cost Matrix in Assignment
Problem
Jobs
Persons j1 j2 jn
I1 X11 X12 X1n
I2 X21 X22 X2n

In Xnn

Cij is the cost of performing jth job by ith worker.

Xij is the number ith individual assigned to jth job.
Total cost= X11* C11+X12* C12 +-- +Xnn Cnn.
 Mathematically
expressed as
the assignment problem can be
The objective function is
Minimize C11X11+ C12X12 + -- +
CnnXnn.
This c a n a l s o b e written a s :

Subject to the constraints

n

2 XIJ = 1for all i(resourse avallability)

n

1 for all I(activity requirement)

and XIJ 0 or 1, for all Ito activityJ.
Method for Solving Assignment Prob
Step 1. Determine the cost table from the given
problem.
(i) If the no. of sources is equal to no. of
destinations, go to step 3.
(ii) If the no. of sources is not equal to the no.
of destination, goto step2.
Step 2. Add a dummy source or dummy
destination, so that the cost table becomes a
square matrix. The cost entries of the dummy
source/destinations are always zero.
Step 3. Locate the smallest element in each row
of the given cost matrix and then subtract the
same from each element of the row.
Step 4. In the reduced matrix obtained in the step 3,
locate the smallest element of each column and then
subtract the same from each element of that column.
Each column and row now have at least one zero.
Step 5. In the modified matrix obtained in the step 4,
search for the optimal assignment as follows:
(a) Examine the rows successively until a row with a
single zero is found. Enrectangle this row ()and cross
off (X) all other zeros in its column. Continue in this
manner until allthe rows have been taken care of.
(b) Repeat the procedure for each column of the
reduced matrix.
(c) If a row and/or column has two or more zeros and
one cannot be chosen by inspection then assign
arbitrary any one of thesse zeros and cross off all other
zeros of that row / column.
(d) Repeat (a) through (c) above successively until the
chain of assigning (0)or cross (X) ends.
 Step 6. If the number of assignment (0 ) is equal
to n(the order of the cost matrix), an optimum
solution is reached.
If the number of assignment is less than n(the
order of the matrix), go to the next step.
Step7. Draw the minimum number of horizontal
and/or vertical lines to cover all the zeros of the
reduced matrix.
Step 8. Develop the new revised cost matrix as
follows:
(a)Find the smallest element of the reduced matrix
not covered by any of the lines.
(b)Subtract this element from all uncovered
elements and add the same to all the elements
laying at the intersection of any two lines.
Step 9. Go to step 6 and repeat the procedure until
an opiaumsolution is attained.
Examples
Ajob has four men available for work on four
separate 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.
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
 Step 1
ldentify the minimum element in each row
and subtract it from every element of that
row.

Table

Jobs
Persons 1 2 3 4

A 5 2 8

B 0 3 8 2

C 2 4 7

D 2 1 1
Step 2
ldentify the minimum element in each column
and subtract it from every element of that
column.

Jobs
Persons 1 2 3 4

A 5 7
B 3 7
C 2 3 6

D 2 0 0
 Make the assignment for the reduced matrix
obtain from steps 1 and 2 in the following
way:

Jobs

Persons 1 2 3

A 5 1 7

B 3 7 1

C 2 3 6
D 2
Draw the minimum number of vertical and
horizontal lines necessary to cover all the
zeros in the reduced matrix obtained from
last step

Jobs

Persons 1 2 3 4

A 5 1 7

B 3 7 1

D
Select the smallest element from all| the
uncovered elements. Subtract this smallest
element from all the uncovered elements and
add it to the elements, which lie at the
intersection of two lines. Thus, we obtain
another reduced matrix for fresh assignment.

Jobs
Persons 1 2 3

A 4 6

B 0 2 6
3 3 6

D 3
 Jobs

Persons 1 2 3 4

A 4 6

B 2 6

C 3 3 6

D 3

Since the number of assignments is equal to the number

of rows (& columns), this is the optimal solution.
The total cost of assignment = Al + B4 + C2 + D3
Substitute the values from original table: 20 + 17 + 24
+ 17 = 78.
 Men
Persons 1 2 3
A 18 26 17 11

B 13 28 14 26
C 38 19 18 15
D 19 26 24 10

Men
Persons 1 2 3 4
A 7 11 5
B oo 11 o 13
C 23 2
D 12 13

The minimum total time for this assignment scheduled is

17 +13+19+10 or 59 man- hours.
 Men
Persons
A 12
B 13 10 12

15
D
Maximisation case in Assignment Problem
Some assignment problems entail
maximizing the profit, effectiveness, or layoff
of an assignment of persons to taskS or of
jobs to machines.
The conversion is accomplished by
subtracting all the elements of the given
effectiveness matrix from the highest
element.
It turns out that minimizing opportunity loss
produces the same assignment solution as
the original maximization problem.
 Five different machines can do any of the five
required jobs, with different profits resulting
from each assignment as given below:
Machines
Jobs A B C D E
1 30 37 40 28 40
2 40 24 27 21 36
3 40 32 33 30 35
25 38 40 36 36
5 29 62 41 34 39
Find out the maximum profit
possible through
optimusignment.
 Here, the highest element is 62.
subtract each value from 62.

Machines
Jobs A B C D E
1 32 25 22 34 22
2 22 38 35 41 26
3 22 30 29 32 27
37 24 22 26 26
33 21 28 23

The maximum profit through this

assignment is 214.
Example 6. XYZ Ltd. employs 100 workers of which 5 are
highly skilled workers that can be assigned to5
technologically advanced machines. The profit generated by
these highly skilled workers while working on different
machines are as follows:

Machines (Profit-matrix)

workers IV VI VII

A 40 40 35 25 50
B 42 30 16 25 27
C 50 48 40 60 50
D 20 19 20 18 25
E 58 60 59 55 53

Solve the above assignment problem so as to maximize the

profits of the company.
Unbalanced Assignment Problem
It is an assignment problem where the
number of persons is not equal to the
number of jobs.
If the number of persons is less than the
number of jobs then we introduce one or
more dummy persons (rows) with zero values
tomake the assignment problem balanced.
Likewise, if the number of jobs is less than
the number of persons then we introduce or
or more dummy jobs (columns) with zero
values to make the assignment problem
balanced
 Jobs

Persons 1 2 3 4

A 20 25 22 28
15 18 23 17
19 17 21 24

Since the number of persons is less than the number of jobs, we

introduce a dummy person (D)with zero values. The revised
assignment problem is given below:
Jobs
Persons 1 2 3 4

A 20 25 22 28

B 15 18 23 17

C 19 17 21 24

D
(dummy)
Example8. In a typical assignment problem, four different
machines are to be assigned to three different jobs with the
restriction that exactly one machine is allowed for each job.
The associated costs (in rupees "000) are as follows:

Jobs
Persons 1 2 3

|A 60 80 50
B 50 30 60
|C 70 90 40

|D 80 50 70