Assignment problem

It a special case of the transportation problem in which the objective is to assign a number of origins to the equal number of destinations at a minimum cost or maximum profit. The assignment is to be made of one-to-one basis.

 assignment problem which occurs when each supply is 1 and each demand is 1. In this case, the integrality implies that every supplier will be assigned one destination and every destination will have one supplier. The costs give the charge for assigning a supplier and destination to each other.

 Consider m laborers to whom n tasks are assigned. No laborer can either sit idle or do more than one task. Every pair of person and assigned work has a rating. This rating may be cost, satisfaction, penalty involved or time taken to finish the job. There will be N2 such combinations of persons and jobs assigned. Thus, the optimization problem is to find such man- job combinations that optimize the sum of ratings among all. Thus m=n. The formulation of this problem as a special case of transportation problem can be represented by treating laborers as sources and the tasks as destinations. The supply available at each source is 1 and the demand required at each destination is 1.The cost of assigning (transporting) laborer i to task j is cij. It is necessary to first balance this problem by adding a dummy laborer or task depending on whether m<n or m>n, respectively. The cost coefficient cij for this dummy will be zero.

 The problem is to find Xij , where Xij = 1,if the ith labour is assigned to jth task = 0 ,if the ith labour is not assigned to jth task

 Minimize
Xijcij Subject to Xij = 1 Xij = 1 Xij =0 or 1
i=1,2,,n j=1,2,.,n

Assignment Problems
Hungarian method
Step 1 In a given matrix subtract the smallest element in each row from every element of that row and do the same in the column. Step2 In the reduced matrix obtain from step 1, subtract the smallest element in each column from every element of that column

 Step 3 Make the assignment for the reduced matrix obtained from step 1 and step 2 (all the zeros in rows/columns are either marked () or (x) and there is exactly one assignment in each row and each column. In such a case optimum assignment policy for the given problem is obtained. If there is row or column with out an assignment go to the next step.

 Step 4 Draw the minimum number of vertical and horizontal lines necessary to cover all the zeros in the reduced matrix obtained from step 3 by adopting the following procedure. (i) mark() all rows that do not have assignments (ii) Mark () all columns (not already marked) which have zeros in the marked rows (iii) Mark () all rows (not already marked) that have assignments in marked columns (iv) Draw straight lines through all unmarked rows and marked columns

 Step 5 If the number of lines drawn are equal to the number of rows or columns, then it is an optimum solution ,otherwise go to step 6 Step 6 Select the smallest element among all the uncovered elements. Subtract this smallest element from all the uncovered elements an add it to the element which lies at the intersection of two line. Thus we obtain another reduced matrix for fresh assignments. Step 7 go the step 3 and repeat the procedure until the number of assignment become equal to the number of rows or columns. In such a case, we shall observe that row/column has an assignment. Thus, the current solution is an optimum solution.

Example
Consider the problem of assigning five machines to five locations at which these machines are to be installed. Material handling costs in Rs per hr is given Machin es/locati ons

1 8 0 3 4

2 4 9 8 3

3 2 5 9 1

4 6 5 2 0

5 1 4 6 3

M1 M2 M3 M4

M5

 Assign the machines to locations such that the total material handling cost is minimum. Also find the total minimum material handling cost.

EXAMPLE
A manufacturer of dies for the automotive component industry utilises a job shop structure. During a planning horizon, the manufacturer needs to first five jobs to the five machines that are in one section of the factory. The table below has details on the processing time of the jobs in each of these machines if assigned. Use the assignment method to solve the loading problem.
Machine 1 Job 1 Job 2 Job 3 Job 4 Job 5 15 16 19 17 20 Machine 2 17 19 20 23 19 Machine 3 16 20 17 22 24 Machine 4 22 19 19 18 16 Machine 5 18 16 20 14 17

Example
A department has four subordinates and four tasks are to be performed. The subordinates differ in efficiency and the tasks differ in their intrinsic difficulties. The estimate of time ( in man-hours) each man would take to perform each task is given by:

Subordin ate/task

1
2 3 4

18
13 38 19

26
28 19 26

17
14 18 24

11
26 15 10

 How should the tasks be allotted to men so as to optimize the total man-hours?

EXAMPLE
The following information is available regarding four different jobs to be performed and about the clerks capable of performing the jobs:
Clerks I II III IV Jobs (Time taken in hours) A 4 3 6 B 7 8 6 C 5 7 5 4 D 6 4 3 2

Clerk II cannot be assigned to job A and clerk III cannot be assigned to job B. Find the optimum assignment schedule. Also find the total time taken to perform the jobs. Also find whether the given problem has more than one optimal assignment schedule.

Unbalanced assignment problem

There are four machines W, X,Y and Z. Three jobs are to be assigned to the 3 machines out of total 4 machines. The cost of assignment (in Rs.) is given below. Find out the optimal assignment.
W A B C 18 8 10 X 24 13 15 Y 28 17 19 Z 32 18 22

Unbalanced assignment problem

Job/ machine

A 13 11 12 7

B 13 19 11 15

C 16 26 4 9

D 23 16 9 14

E 19 17 6 14

F 9 18 10 13

1 2 3 4

13

12

14

11

 Here the cost of processing any jobs on any machine is given. The assignment of jobs to machines must be on a one-to-one basis. Assign the jobs to machines so that the total cost is minimum. Find the minimum total cost.

The maximum assignment

Whenever the assignment problem deal with maximization of an objective function, the problem may be to assign persons to jobs n such a way that the expected profit is maximized. Such problem may be solved by first reducing it to a minimization problem by subtracting every element of the given cost matrix from the highest element.

 A company has 5 jobs to be done. The following matrix shows the return in Rs. Of assigning ith machine to the jth machines so as to maximize the total expected profit:

9 12 11

3 10 2

4 8 9

2 11 0

10 9 8

8
7

0
5

10
6

3
2

7
9