TITLE:
Solving the Unbalanced Assignment Problem: Simpler Is Better
AUTHORS:
Nathan Betts, Francis J. Vasko
KEYWORDS:
Assignment Problem, Hungarian Method, Textbook Formulation
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Operations Research,
Vol.6 No.4,
June
30,
2016
ABSTRACT: Recently, Yadaiah and Haragopal published in the American Journal of Operations Research a new approach to solving the unbalanced assignment problem. They also provide a numerical example which they solve with their approach and get a cost of 1550 which they claim is optimum. This approach might be of interest; however, their approach does not guarantee the optimal solution. In this short paper, we will show that solving this same example from the Yadaiah and Haragopal paper by using a simple textbook formulation to balance the problem and then solve it with the classic Hungarian method of Kuhn yields the true optimal solution with a cost of 1520.