Assignment Problems

Quantitative Techniques
BMS SEM - V
Instructor: Dr. Himadri Karmakar
What is Assignment Problem?

Given a set of 𝑛 jobs and a set of 𝑛 people who can do those jobs with varying cost, assign each
job to a person such that each job is done by only 1 person and the net cost is MINIMUM.
Assignment problem is a special type of transportation problem in which
1. Number of supply and demand nodes are equal.
2. Supply from every supply node is one.
3. Every demand node has a demand of one.
4. Solution is required to be all integers.

The goal of a general assignment problem is to find an optimal assignment of machines

(laborers) to jobs without assigning an agent more than once and ensuring that all jobs are
completed. The objective might be to minimize the total time to complete a set of jobs, or to
maximize skill ratings, maximize the total satisfaction of the group or to minimize the cost of the
assignments. This is subjected to the following requirements:

1. Each machine is assigned not more than one job.

2. Each job is assigned to exactly one machine.
Important Observations

I. Reducing all entries of a row by same amount will not affect the final assignment since the
same person will charge the best amount even then .

II. Similarly reducing all entries of a column by same value does not affect assignment.
 Algorithm – Hungarian Method

Reduce all rows by the least value of that row to get at least one 0 in every row.

Reduce all columns by the least value of that column to get at least one 0 in every column.

Choose independent zeros.

Find the row or column with the smallest number of zero entries. Choose one of its zeros,
and cross out all the zeros in the same row and column.

Proceed to choose more zeros among the ones that have not been crossed out, starting at
the row or column with the smallest number of them, until all zeros are either chosen or
crossed out.

If 𝑛 independent zeros have been chosen, an optimal solution is available. Stop.

If less than 𝑛 independent zeros have been chosen, then go to the next step.
Draw the minimum number of lines (horizontal or vertical) that are needed to cover all zeros in
the tableau.

Choose the least value which is not covered by the lines.

Add it to the value of each intersection of the lines.

Subtract from all other cells which are not covered. Do nothing for the cells which is not an
intersection but a line passes through it.

Assign independent zero and check for optimality.

Let’s make the last step
more clear . . .
After drawing of lines, there can be 3 types of entries

1. The entries which are not covered by any line.

2. The entries which are covered by a line

3. The entries which are at the intersection of the lines.

Choose the least entry which is not covered by any line, i.e., from category – 1.

Subtract the chosen entry from all entries of category – 1 including the chosen one
Add the chosen entry to category – 3
Keep category -2 items unchanged
 5 7 9 Row reduction

14 10 12 0 2 4

15 13 16 4 0 2

2 0 3
Column reduction

0 2 2
Marking of zeros
4 0 0
0 2 2

2 0 1 4 0 0

2 0 1
Number of marked zeros = 3= 𝑛, thus this gives the optimal solution
 Row reduction
1 4 6 3
0 3 5 2
8 7 10 9
1 0 3 2
4 5 11 7
0 1 7 3
6 7 8 5
1 2 3 0

Column reduction

0 3 2 2

1 0 0 2 0 3 2 2
0 1 4 3 1 0 0 2
1 2 0 0 0 1 4 3

1 2 0 0
0 2 1 1

2 0 0 2

0 0 3 2

2 2 0 0

0 2 1 1

2 0 0 2

0 0 3 2

2 2 0 0
8 10 17 9

3 8 5 6

10 12 11 9

6 13 9 7

0 0 7 1

0 3 0 3

1 1 0 0

0 5 1 1
6 12 3 11 15

4 2 7 1 10

8 11 10 7 11

16 19 12 23 21

9 5 7 6 10

0 7 0 6 6

2 1 8 0 5

0 4 5 0 0

1 5 0 9 3

3 0 4 1 1
Special Cases: Maximization Problem

The British Navy wishes to assign four ships to patrol four sectors of the North Sea. In some
areas ships are to be on the outlook for illegal shipping boats, and in other sectors to watch for
enemy submarines, so the commander rates each ship in terms of its profitable efficiency in
each sector. These relative efficiencies are illustrated in the following table. On the basis of the
ratings shown, the commander wants to determine the patrol assignments producing the best
overall efficiencies.

Convert the maximizing efficiency table to minimizing opportunity cost table from subtracting
each entry from the highest entry in the table.
Special Cases: Unbalanced Problem

In case the matrix is not a square matrix, dummy rows or columns are added to make it a square
matrix. All the cells of the introduced row or column have cell value 0. After that, the problem is
solved using Hungarian method.

Ans. 50
Special Cases: Restricted Assignment

Just like Transportation Problems, here also, a very big value 𝑀 is allotted as the cost for
the unavailable assignment and then it is solved in the usual manner.

Ans. 71