ASSIGNMENT CASE

STUDY
 Introduction

An Assignment Problem is a particular case of

transportation problem where the objective is to
assign a number of resources to an equal number of
activities so as to minimize total cost or maximize
total profit of allocation.

The problem of assignment arises because

available resources have varying degrees of
efficiency for performing different activities.
 Applications

Some of the problems where assignment technique

may be useful are :
Assignment of workers to machines,
Salesmen to different sales area,

Clerks to various checkout counters,

Vehicles to routes,

Contract to bidders,

Pairing of crew with flights schedule , etc.

 Solving Method

Hungarian Method (Developed by D. Konig)

The Hungarian method of assignment works on the principle
of reducing the given the cost matrix to a matrix of
opportunity costs.
Opportunity Costs show the relative penalties associated
with assigning a resource an activity as opposed to making
the best or least cost assignment.
If we can reduce the cost matrix to the extent of having at
least one zero in each row and column, it will be possible to
make optimal assignments (opportunity costs are all zero)
 Case : Assigning of crew to
flights
An airline that operates seven days a week has a
timetable as shown in the next slide.
Crews must have a minimum rest of six hours
between flights. Obtain the pairing of flights that
minimize waiting time away from the city. For any
given pairing the crew will be based at the city that
results the smaller waiting time.
For each pair also mention the city where the crew
should be based.
 Case

Fligh Delhi Kolkata Flight Kolkata Delhi Arrival

t No. Departure Arrival No. Departure

201 07:00 A.M. 09:00 A.M. 101 09:00 A.M. 11:00 A.M.

202 09:00 A.M. 11:00 A.M. 102 10:00 A.M. 12:00 Noon

203 01:30 P.M. 03:30 P.M. 103 03:30 P.M. 05:30 P.M.

204 07:30 P.M. 09:30 P.M. 104 08:30 P.M. 10:30 P.M.

Table 1: Time table of the airline

 Problem Solving Approach

As the service time is constant, it does not affect the

decision of stationing the crew.
Assume that the crew of all the flights are based at Delhi.
For each combination if the onward and return flight, find
the time the crew has to wait in Kolkata to catch the next
available flight to return keeping in mind that the minimum
time the crew has to rest at Kolkata is 6 hours.
Perform the above step assuming that the crew of all the
flights are based at Kolkata.
For each combination record the minimum of the two
durations.
Apply the Assignment model technique to minimize the
waiting time away from the city.
Solution Step 1 (Crew is based at Delhi)
24

Flight Delhi Kolkata Flight Kolkata Delhi

no. Departure Arrival no. Departure Arrival
201 0700 0900 101 0900 1100
202 0900 1100 102 1000 1200
203 1330 1530 103 1530 1730
204 1930 2130 104 2000 2200

The crew for flight 201 reaches Kolkata at 0900 hrs and thus
can start from Kolkata to Delhi earliest at 0900 + 6 hrs = 1500
Hrs. So if the crew has to return by Flight 101, it has to wait for
the next day till 0900 Hrs for exactly 24 Hrs.
Solution Step 1 (Crew is based at Delhi)
Dep /Arr
101 102 103 104
Flight No.
201 24
202
203
204
Solution Step 1 (Crew is based at Delhi)
25
Flight Delhi Kolkata Flight Kolkata Delhi
no. Departure Arrival no. Departure Arrival
201 0700 0900 101 0900 1100
202 0900 1100 102 1000 1200
203 1330 1530 103 1530 1730
204 1930 2130 104 2000 2200

The crew for flight 201 reaches Kolkata at 0900 hrs and thus
can start from Kolkata to Delhi earliest at 0900 + 6 hrs = 1500
Hrs. So if the crew has to return by Flight 102, it has to wait for
the next day till 1000 Hrs for exactly 25 Hrs.
Solution Step 1 (Crew is based at Delhi)
Dep /Arr
101 102 103 104
Flight
201 24 25 6.5
202
203
204

Similarly, if the crew has to return on flight 103

which departs from Kolkata at 1530 Hrs, There
will be a gap of 6.5 Hrs which is acceptable as
per the rules and the crew can return on the
same day.
Solution Step 1 (Crew is based at Delhi)
Dep /Arr
101 102 103 104
Flight
201 24.0 25.0 6.5 11.0
202 22.0 23.0 28.5 9.0
203 17.5 18.5 24.0 28.5
204 11.5 12.5 18.0 22.5

Table 2: Waiting time when the full crew is based at

Delhi
Similarly, the waiting duration for all the combinations
of arrival and departure flights can be calculated.
Solution Step 2 (Crew is based at
Kolkata)
20 hrs

Flight Delhi Kolkata Flight Kolkata Delhi

no. Departure Arrival no. Departure Arrival
201 0700 0900 101 0900 1100
202 0900 1100 102 1000 1200
203 1330 1530 103 1530 1730
204 1930 2130 104 2000 2200

In the second step we assume that the crew for all the flights
are based in Kolkata and have to return from Kolkata after a
minimum stay of 6 Hrs in Delhi. If the crew of flight 101 has to
return by the flight 201 it has to stay in Delhi for at least 20 Hrs.
Solution Step 2 (Crew is based at
Kolkata)
22 hrs

Flight Delhi Kolkata Flight Kolkata Delhi

no. Departure Arrival no. Departure Arrival
201 0700 0900 101 0900 1100
202 0900 1100 102 1000 1200
203 1330 1530 103 1530 1730
204 1930 2130 104 2000 2200

If Instead the crew which flew by flight 101 has to return by

flight 202 then the minimum duration of stay at Delhi would be
22 Hrs.
Solution Step 2 (Crew is based at
Kolkata)
Arr /Dep
101 102 103 104
Flight
201 20.0 19.0 13.5 9.0
202 22.0 21.0 15.5 11.0
203 26.5 25.5 20.0 15.5
204 8.5 7.5 26.0 21.5

Table 3: When the full crew is based at

Kolkata
Similarly, the waiting duration for all the combinations
of arrival and departure flights can be calculated,
assuming that the crew is based at Kolkata.
Solution Step3(Developing Opportunity Cost
Matrix)

We have calculated the waiting time when all crew

members are asked to reside at Delhi and in the
other case at Kolkata.
As the crew can be asked to reside at Delhi or
Kolkata, the minimum waiting time from Tables 1 & 2
can be obtained for the different route connections
by choosing minimum value out of the waiting times.
These values of waiting times are shown in Table 3.
Solution Step 3 (Opportunity Cost Table)
Arrival/
Departure 101 102 103 104
Flight No.

201 20(K) 19(K) 6.5(D) 9(K)

202 22(D/K) 22(K) 15.5(K) 9(D)

203 17.5(D) 18.5(D) 20(K) 15.5(K)

204 8.5(K) 7.5(K) 18(D) 21.5(K)

Table 4: Opportunity Cost

Table
Where :
K stands for Kolkata and D stands for Delhi
Solution Step 4-A
Row Reduction Method
From each row we identify the smallest element
and subtract it from each element of the row
Solution Step 4-A (Row reduction)
Arrival/
Departure 101 102 103 104
Flight No.

201 20(K) 19(K) 6.5(D) 9(K)

202 22(D/K) 22(K) 15.5(K) 9(D)

203 17.5(D) 18.5(D) 20(K) 15.5(K)

204 8.5(K) 7.5(K) 18(D) 21.5(K)

In row 1 the smallest element is 6.5 and this value is subtracted

from each element of row 1
Likewise the same method is followed for each row
Solution Step 4-A (Row Reduction)
Arrival/
Departure 101 102 103 104
Flight No.

201 13.5(K) 12.5(K) 0.0(D) 2.5(K)

202 13.0(D/K) 12(K) 6.5(K) 0.0(D)

203 2.0(D) 3.0(D) 4.5(K) 0.0(K)

204 1.0(K) 0.0(K) 10.5(D) 14.0(K)

Table -5 : Opportunity Cost Matrix after Row

Reduction
Solution Step 4-B
Column Reduction Method
From each column of the row reduced matrix we
identify the smallest element in that column and
subtract it from each element of the column
Solution Step-B (Column Reduction)
Arrival/
Departure 101 102 103 104
Flight No.

201 13.5(K) 12.5(K) 0.0(D) 2.5(K)

202 13.0(D/K) 12(K) 6.5(K) 0.0(D)

203 2.0(D) 3.0(D) 4.5(K) 0.0(K)

204 1.0(K) 0.0(K) 10.5(D) 14.0(K)

For example the minimum value in column 1 is 1 and this is subtracted

from each element of column 1.
We follow the same procedure in the remaining columns also
Solution Step 4-C (Opportunity Cost
Matrix)

Arrival/
Departure 101 102 103 104
Flight No.

201 12.5(K) 12.5(K) 0.0(D) 2.5(K)

202 12.0(D/K) 12(K) 6.5(K) 0.0(D)

203 1.0(D) 3.0(D) 4.5(K) 0.0(K)

204 0.0(K) 0.0(K) 10.5(D) 14.0(K)

Table 6 : Opportunity Cost Matrix after column reduction

Solution Step 5 (Optimality Criterion)
Making Assignments in the Opportunity Cost Matrix

Arrival/
Departure 101 102 103 104
Flight No.

201 12.5(K) 12.5(K) 0.0(D) 2.5(K)

202 12.0(D/K) 12(K) 6.5(K) 0.0(D)

203 1.0(D) 3.0(D) 4.5(K) 0.0(K)

204 0.0(K) 0.0(K) 10.5(D) 14.0(K)

The solution is not optimal because only three assignments are made
which is not equal to the number of rows (or columns) which is equal to four.
Hence, the solution is not optimal.
Solution Step 6
Revising the Opportunity Cost Matrix
Arrival/
Departure 101 102 103 104
Flight No.

201 12.5(K) 12.5(K) 0.0(D) 2.5(K)

202 12.0(D/K) 12(K) 6.5(K) 0.0(D)

203 1.0(D) 3.0(D) 4.5(K) 0.0(K)

204 0.0(K) 0.0(K) 10.5(D) 14.0(K)

 Solution Step 7
Revised Opportunity Matrix

Arrival/
Departure 101 102 103 104
Flight No.

201 12.5(K) 12.5(K) 0.0(D) 3.5(K)

202 11.0(D/K) 11.0(K) 5.5(K) 0.0(D)

203 0.0(D) 2.0(D) 3.5(K) 0.0(K)

204 0.0(K) 0.0(K) 10.5(D) 15.0(K)

The solution is optimal because the number of assignments and

the number of rows each are equal to four.
 Final Solution
The pattern of optimal assignments among routes
with respect to the waiting time is given in the
following table:- Waiting
Crew Residence at Route Number Time
(in hours)
1 Delhi 201 103 6.5
2 Delhi 202 104 9.0
3 Delhi 203 101 17.5
4 Kolkata 204 - 102 7.5
Total 40.5