Linear Programming:

Transportation and
Assignment problem

Course Code: ICE 417

Course Title: Operation Research

Lecturer: Miss Omolola Ademola

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 Transportation Problem

 One important application of linear programming is the area of physical

transportation of goods from several supply centers to several demand centers.

 Transportation problem is a special type of linear programming problem, whereby

goods are transported from a set of sources to a set of destinations subject to the
supply and demand of the sources and destination respectively.

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 Transportation Problem

 It is easy to express a transportation problem mathematically in terms

of an LP model, which can be solved using the simplex method.
However, since transportation problem involves a large number of
variables (transportation/shipping routes) and constraints, it takes a
long time to solve it. Therefore, other methods (transportation
algorithm) have been developed for this purpose.

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  The objective of the transportation algorithm is to minimize the total
cost of transporting a homogenous commodity (product) from
supply origins to demand destinations.

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 General Transportation Model Table
Where:

 SSi is the total supply of origin i.

 DDj is the total demand of destination j.

 Cij represents the costs of transporting one

unit of commodity from source i to

destination j.

 Xij is the quantity of commodities

transported from ith origin to jth destination.

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The linear programming representation
of the transportation model

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 The following assumptions are given for a Transportation Problem;
All goods are homogenous so that any origin is capable of supplying to any
destination.
Transportation costs are a linear function of the quantity shipped over any
route.
All the assumptions of the general LPP also hold in the special case of the
transportation problem.

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 Types of Transportation Problem
Balanced Transportation Problem(S = D), that is
Unbalanced Transportation Problem(S ≠ D). A dummy source or
dummy destination must be added to restore balance.

Abuja Kaduna Supply

Ogun

Lagos

Ibadon
Demand

What type of Transportation problem does the table represent?

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 What type of transportation problem I
this?

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 Approach in solving Transportation
Problem
 Step I: check the type of Transportation Problem.
If the problem is not balanced, open a dummy row or a dummy column.
The cost coefficients of dummy cells are zero.
 Step II: Find the basic feasible solution. This can be done using
either of these three methods.
North-west corner method.
Least-cost cell method. (Or Matrix minimum method or inspection method)
Vogel's Approximation Method is generally known as VAM.
 Step II: Optimize the feasible solution.

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 If the problem is unbalanced

 If σ 𝑏𝑖 > σ 𝑑𝑗 then open a dummy row. The availability constraint is

equals to σ 𝑏𝑖 − σ 𝑑𝑗 .

 If σ 𝑑𝑖 > σ 𝑏𝑗 , then open a dummy column, whose requirement

constraint will be equal to σ 𝑑𝑖 − σ 𝑏𝑗

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 The requirements for accepting a
solution
 Any solution can be accepted if it satisfies the following conditions:
It must satisfy the supply and demand constraints. The sum of allocations
along each row equals the supply of each row and the sum of the allocations
down each column equals the demand or requirement of each column. This
condition is known as the rim condition.

It must be a basic feasible solution. A feasible solution is known as a basic

feasible solution if the number of allocations is equal to m+n-1 where m is the
number of rows and n is the number of columns in a transportation table.
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 North-West Corner Method (NWC)

 The North-West Corner Method (NWC) is a systematic approach to

developing an initial feasible solution. Its chief advantage is that it is
simple to use and easy to understand. Its chief drawback is that it does
not take transportation costs into account. Consequently, such a
solution may require much additional effort to obtain the optimal
solution.
 The North-West Corner Method (NWC) gets its name because the
starting point for the allocation process is the upper left-hand
(northwest) corner of the transportation table.

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 Steps of solving transportation problem
using the North-West Corner Method (NWC)

i. Balance the problem. That is see whether Σbi = Σdj. If not open a dummy column or

dummy row as the case may be and balance the problem.

ii. Start from the left-hand side top corner or cell and make allocations depending on the

availability and requirement constraint. If the availability constraint is less than the

requirement constraint, then for that cell make allocation in units which is equal to the

availability constraint.

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 Steps of solving transportation problem
using the North-West Corner Method (NWC)
cont.
iii. Cross out the row or column with zero supply or demand to indicate that no
further assignments can be made in that row or column. If both a row and a column
net to zero simultaneously, cross out one only, and leave a zero supply (demand) in
the uncrossed-out row (column).

iv. Verify which is the smallest among the availability and requirements and allocate
the smallest one to the cell under observation. Then proceed to allocate either
sidewise or downward to satisfy the rim requirement. Continue this until all the
allocations are over.

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 Steps of solving transportation problem
using the North-West Corner Method (NWC)
cont.
v. Once all the allocations are over, i.e., both rim requirements (column
and row i.e., availability and requirement constraints) are satisfied, write
allocations and calculate the cost of transportation.

vi. Count the allocations, if it is equals to m + n – 1, then the solution is

basic feasible solution.

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 Example 1
Solve the transportation problem using northwest corner method given
below.
Availability
A B C D
(Supply)

1
3 1 7 4 300
2
2 6 5 9 400
3
8 3 3 2 500
Requirement
(demand)
250 350 400 200

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 Example 2
 Four factories, A, B, C and D produce sugar and the capacity of each
factory is given below: Factory A produces 10 tons of sugar and B
produces 8 tons of sugar, C produces 5 tons of sugar and that of D is 6
tons of sugar. The sugar has demand in three markets X, Y and Z. The
demand of market X is 7 tons, that of market Y is 12 tons and the
demand of market Z is 5 tons. The following matrix gives the
transportation cost of 1 ton of sugar from each factory to the
destinations. Find the Optimal Solution

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 Example 1

5 24

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 Solution

The solution, we got have 7 allocations which is = 4 +

4 – 1 = 7. Hence the solution is basic feasible solution.

The total cost is 105

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 Least-cost cell method
 The least-cost method finds a better starting solution by targeting the
cheapest routes. It assigns as much as possible to the cell with the
smallest unit cost. The satisfied row or column is crossed out and the
amounts of supply and demand are adjusted accordingly. If both a row
and a column are satisfied simultaneously, only one is crossed out, the
same as in the northwest-corner method. Next, select the uncrossed-
out cell with the smallest unit cost and repeat the process until exactly
one row or column is left uncrossed out.

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 Example 2

Using least cost cell method, the total cost is 2,900

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 Vogel approximation method (VaM)
 VAM is an improved version of the least-cost method that generally,
but not always, produces better starting solutions.
Step 1. For each row (column), determine a penalty measure by subtracting the
smallest unit cost in the row (column) from the next smallest unit cost in the
same row (column). This penalty is actually a measure of lost opportunity one
forgoes if the smallest unit cost cell is not chosen.
Step 2. Identify the row or column with the largest penalty, breaking ties
arbitrarily. Allocate the unit to the variable with the least unit cost in the
selected row or column. Adjust the supply and demand, and cross out the
satisfied row or column. If a row and a column are satisfied simultaneously,
only one of the two is crossed out, and the remaining row (column) is assigned
zero supply (demand).

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 Class exercise
Find the least cost transportation schedule for the problem given below.

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 Class exercise

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Differences Between the Three Methods
North-West Corner Method Least Cost Method Vogel’s Approximation
Method
1 Begins with the top-left corner Starts with the cell having Compares the difference
(North-West corner) of the the lowest transportation between the two smallest
transportation tableau and cost and allocates as much transportation costs in each
allocates as much as possible in as possible while row and column and selects
a systematic manner until considering capacity the cell with the largest
demands or supplies are constraints. difference to allocate goods
exhausted. until supplies or demands
are exhausted.
2 Suitable for initial approximations Effective when transportation Ideal for complex problems
but less effective for finding costs vary significantly and with varying transportation
optimal solutions in complex can be used for moderate- costs and widely varying
problems. sized problems. supply and demand values.

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Differences Between the Three Methods
cont.
North-West Corner Method Least Cost Method Vogel’s Approximation Method
3 Does not prioritize minimizing Focuses on minimizing Tends to approach optimality
transportation costs but offers transportation costs directly from more quickly by considering the
a basic starting point. the start by selecting cells with penalties or differences between
the lowest costs. costs within rows and columns.
4 Simple and easy to Moderately complex, considers More complex due to the
implement but might not yield costs directly, and might require consideration of
an optimal solution in fewer fewer iterations compared to the penalties/differences in costs, but
iterations. North-West Corner Method. tends to converge toward an
optimal solution faster than the
other methods.
5 May not always provide an Tends to converge to an optimal Generally converges to an optimal
optimal solution and might solution faster than the North- solution more efficiently compared
need modifications or further West Corner Method but might to the other methods, especially
iterations to reach optimality. not be the most efficient for for larger and more complex
certain complex problems. transportation problems.
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 ASSIGNMENT
PROBLEM

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 Assignment Problem
 An assignment problem may be considered a special type of transportation problem in
which the number of sources and destinations are equal.

 The assignment is a problem because people possess varying abilities for performing
different jobs and, therefore, the costs of performing the jobs by different people are
different.

 Thus, in an assignment problem, the question is how should the assignments be made so
that the total cost of performing the job is minimal (or the total value is maximized
when pay-offs are given in terms of, say profits).

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 What is Assignment Problem?
 Assignment problem deals with assigning n origins (workers) to m
destinations (jobs or machines) with the goal of determining the minimum
cost assignment. Each origin must be assigned to one and only one
destination, and each destination must have assigned one and only one
origin.

 The objective of the assignment problem is to minimize the cost or time of

completing a number of jobs by a number of persons.

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 Assignment Problem Cont.
 The capacity of each source as well as the requirement of each destination is
taken as 1. In the case of an assignment problem, the given matrix must
necessarily be a square matrix which is not the condition for a transportation
problem.
 Assignment problem having non-square matrix can be solved by adding a
dummy row or dummy column as the case may be, we can convert a non-square
matrix into a square matrix and proceed further to solve the problem.
 Assignment model is a minimization model.
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 Mathematical formulation of the
assignment problem
 The assignment model can be expressed as follows:
𝑛 𝑛

𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑍 = ෍ ෍ 𝐶𝑖𝑗 𝑋𝑖𝑗

𝑖=1 𝑗=1
Subject to: 𝑛

෍ 𝑋𝑖𝑗 = 1, 𝑖 = 1,2, … … . , 𝑛 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑗𝑜𝑏 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑗𝑡ℎ 𝑗𝑜𝑏

𝑚 𝑗=1

෍ 𝑋𝑖𝑗 = 1, 𝑗 = 1,2, … … . . , 𝑚 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖 𝑡ℎ 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑟

𝑖=1
1, 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖 𝑡ℎ 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑗𝑡ℎ 𝑗𝑜𝑏
𝑋𝑖𝑗 = ൝
0, 𝑖𝑓 𝑛𝑜𝑡

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 Assignment Model
 Note that an assignment problem is a special transportation problem and
may be solved as one. However, we use another method known as the
Hungarian method for solving it. This new method is the best method for
finding the optimal solution to a transportation problem.

 Although the new solution method appears unrelated to the transportation

model, the algorithm is rooted in the simplex method, just as the
transportation model is.

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 Hungarian Method

 The Hungarian method was developed by H. Kuhn and is based upon

the work of two Hungarian mathematicians D. Konig and J. Egervary.
For application of the algorithm, it is assumed that all of the Cij’s of
the starting cost matrix are non-negative and the assignment Problem
is of minimization case.

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 Steps to Hungarian Method
 The steps for obtaining an optimal solution of an assignment problem are as follows:
1. Check whether the given matrix is square. If not, make it square by adding a dummy row (or
column) with 0 cost/time elements.
2. Locate the smallest cost element in each row of the cost matrix. Subtract the smallest element of
each row from every element of that row, this is known as row reduction.
3. In the resulting cost matrix, locate the smallest element in each column and subtract the smallest
element of each column from every element of that column, this is known as column reduction.
4. In the resulting matrix, search for an optimum assignment as follows:
i. Examine the rows successively until a row with exactly one zero is found. Draw a rectangle
around this zero (as 0)and draw a vertical line passing through that zero. Proceed in this
manner until all the rows have been examined. If there is more than one zero in any row, do
not touch that row; pass on to the next row.
ii. Repeat step (i) above for the columns of the resulting cost matrix, if there are zero values
that are not covered with lines, after examining all the rows in step (i).
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 Steps to Hungarian Method Cont.
iii. If a row or column of the reduced matrix contains more than one zero, arbitrarily
choose a row or column having the minimum number of zeroes. Arbitrarily select any
zero in the row or column so chosen. Draw a Square around it and cross out all the
zeroes in the corresponding column. Repeat steps (4i) to (4iii) until all the zeroes
have either been assigned by drawing a square around them or crossed.
5. Check whether the number of squares marked is equal to the number of rows of the
matrix.
If YES, go to step (8).
If NO, move to step (6).
6. Identify the minimum value of the undeleted cell values.
i. Add the minimum undeleted cell value at the intersection points of the present matrix.
ii. Subtract the minimum undeleted cell value from all the undeleted cell values.
iii. Make all other entries remain the same in the new matrix.
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 Steps to Hungarian Method Cont.

7. Go to step (4).

8. If the number of squares marked is equal to the number of rows of

the matrix, the solution is optimal. This forms the optimality.

9. Write out the assignment and give the total processing time, cost, or
distance.

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 NOTE
 If each row and each column of the resulting matrix has one and only
one assigned 0, the optimum assignment is made in the cells
corresponding to 0. The optimum solution to the problem is attained and
you can stop here.

 If each row and each column contains exactly one assignment, then the
solution is optimal.

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 NOTE
 If given a maximization problem, the same procedure is adopted. We convert
the maximization problem into a minimization problem by multiplying the
matrix by (-1) or by subtracting all the elements of the matrix from the highest
element in the matrix. Once we do this, the entries in the matrix give us the
relative costs, hence the problem becomes a minimization problem. Once we
get the optimal assignment, the total value of the original payoff measure can be
found by adding the individual original entries for those cells to which the
assignment has been made.

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 Example 3
 A computer center has four expert programmers and needs to develop
four application programs. The head of the computer center estimates
the computer time (in minutes) required by the respective experts to
develop the application programs as follows:

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 Solution to example 3

The optimum solution for this problem is:
1 C, 2 A, 3 D, 4 B
This means that Programmer 1 is assigned program C, programmer 2 is
assigned program A, and so on.
 The minimum time taken to develop the programs is
= 80 + 80 + 100 + 90 = 350 min.

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 Example 4
 Solve the following assignment problem using Hungarian method. The
matrix entries represent the processing times in hours.
ANS: The Total Processing Time is 17hrs
Jobs

A B C D
1 5 3 2 8
2 7 9 2 6
3 6 4 5 7
Operators
4 5 7 7 8

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 Class Exercise

The Answer is 14unit

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 Applications
 The assignment problem has many applications in allocations and scheduling:
For example,

In assigning salesmen to different regions

Vehicles and drivers to different routes

Products to factories

Jobs to machines

Contracts to binders, etc

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 Comparison Between Transportation
problem & Assignment problem
Transportation Problem Assignment Problem
1 Number of sources and destinations need Number of workers and jobs need to be
not be equal. Hence the cost matrix is not equal. Hence cost matrix is a square
necessarily a square matrix. matrix.
2 If number of rows and number of
If demand and supply are not equal, then
columns are not equal, then the
transportation problem is known as
assignment problem is known as
Unbalanced Transportation Problem.
Unbalanced Assignment Problem.
3 Xij: indicates the quantity to be
Xij: indicates the jth job to be assigned to
transported from ith origin to jth
ith person and it can take either 1 or 0.
destination and take any possible value.
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 Comparison Between Transportation
problem & Assignment problem Cont.
Transportation Problem Assignment Problem
4 The row and column sum is equal to ssi The row and column sum is exactly one (l).
and ddj.
5 The problem is unbalanced if ∑ss≠∑dd. The problem is unbalanced if the cost
matrix is not a square matrix.
6 The basic feasible solution must have m + Every column and row must have at least
n – 1 allocations. one zero. And one machine is assigned to
one job and vice versa.
7 The basic feasible solution is obtained by The basic feasible solution is obtained by
northwest corner method or the Least the Hungarian method or by the Assignment
Cost Cell method or VAM. They can be algorithm. They can not be used to solve
used to solve assignment problems. transportation problems.
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 Class Exercise
 A company produces a single product and sells it through five agencies
situated in different cities. All of a sudden, there is a demand for the product
in five more cities that do not have any agency of the company. The
company is faced with the problem of deciding how to assign the existing
agencies to dispatch the product to the additional cities in such a way that
the traveling distance is minimized. The distances (in km) between the
surplus and deficit cities are given in the following distance matrix.

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