Assignment Problem

1. Solve the following assignment problem for minimum cost:

2. Solve the following assignment problem for minimum cost. Here W1J3 and W3J4 are prohibited
assignments.
J1 J2 J3 J4 J5
W1 27 18 -- 20 21
W2 31 24 21 12 17
W3 20 17 20 -- 16
W4 20 28 20 16 27
3. A company has to assign four salesmen to four different sales territories. The monthly increases
estimated for each salesman in different territories (in lakhs of ₹) are shown in the following table.
Suggest optimal assignment for the salesmen. Which sales territory will remain unassigned? What
will be maximum sales increase every month?

Sales Territories
Salesman
I II III IV V
A 75 80 85 70 90
B 91 71 82 75 85
C 78 90 85 80 80
D 65 75 88 85 90

If, for some reasons, salesman D cannot be assigned to territory III, will the optimal assignment
schedule be different? If so, show the new assignment schedule.

4. A firm produces four products. There are four operators who are capable of producing any of
these products. The firm records 8 hours a day and allows 30 minutes for lunch. The processing
time (in minutes) and the profit for each of the products are given below. Find the optimal
assignment of products to operators.

Product
Operator
I II III IV
1 15 9 10 6
2 10 6 9 6
3 25 15 15 9
4 15 9 10 10
Profit per Unit (₹) 8 6 5 4

5. An airline, operating seven days a week, has given the following schedule of its flights between
New Delhi and Mumbai. The crews should have a minimum layover of five hours between the
flights. Obtain the pairing of flights that minimizes layover time away from home. For any given
pairing, the crew will be based at the city that results in the smallest layover.
 New Delhi – Mumbai Mumbai – New Delhi
Flight Number Departure Arrival Flight Number Departure Arrival
101 5 A.M. 7 A.M. 201 7 A.M. 9 A.M.
102 7 A.M. 9 A.M. 202 8 A.M. 10 A.M.
103 1 P.M. 3 P.M. 203 1 P.M. 3 P.M.
104 7 P.M. 9 P.M. 204 6 P.M. 8 P.M.

Transportation Problem
1. Consider the following transportation problem:

Market
Plant Supply
1 2 3 4
P1 10 5 7 8 150

P2 6 4 8 5 125

P3 9 12 10 7 225

Demand 110 80 190 120 500

(a) Obtain initial solution to this problem using North-West Corner Method.
(b) Obtain initial solution to this problem using Least Cost Method (LCM).
(c) Test whether the initial solution obtained by LCM is optimal.
(d) If not, improve the solution until optimal solution is reached. What is the total cost
involved?
(e) Obtain initial solution to this problem using Vogel’s Approximation Method (VAM) or
Penalty Method. And test whether the initial solution is optimal.
(f) If not, obtain the optimal solution. What is the total cost involved?
2. Test whether the following solution is optimal. If not, obtain the optimal solution.

Plant 1 – C: 700; Plant 2 – B: 700; Plant 3 – A: 600; Plant 3 – C: 100; Plant 3 – D: 300

A B C D Supply

Plant 1 18 7 13 12 700

Plant 2 18 19 26 16 800

Plant 3 14 20 22 16 1000

Demand 600 600 800 500 2500

3. Consider the optimal solution for the problem (1) above and answer the following questions
independently:
(a) It is decided to send 50 units from P3 to M2. What will be the revised solution and
what effect it will have on the total cost?
 (b) How will the solution change if 70 units are decided to be sent from P3 to M2?
(c) The transporter agrees to give a 50 percent discount on the route P1M1. How will it
affect the solution?
4. Solve the following transportation problem for optimal solution, given that the routes P1M1
and P3M3 are currently unavailable. Does the problem have multiple optimal solutions? If yes,
identify.
M1 M2 M3 Supply

P1 8 10 5 90

P2 12 9 4 50

P3 7 3 6 80

P4 9 5 7 60

Demand 120 10 110

5. You are given the following unit profit matrix. Solve the problem for maximum total profit.

M1 M2 M3 M4 Supply

P1 8 12 15 6 10

P2 7 11 10 10 15

P3 4 10 11 10 20

P4 9 4 6 8 15

Demand 8 12 18 22 60

6. Solve the following transportation problem, taking initial solution using VAM.

Market
Plant Supply
1 2 3 4 5
A 5 2 4 2 6 16
B 8 3 5 2 1 24
C 6 8 4 8 3 28
Demand 8 8 20 16 16 68