Fowle Marketing Research, Inc. is faced with the problem of assigning three available project leaders (agents) to each of three new research studies (tasks). Fowles management realizes, however, that the time required to complete each study will depend on the experience and ability of the project leader assigned to the study. Since the three studies have been judged to have approximately the same priority, the company would like to determine the assignments that will minimize the total number of days required to complete all three. If a project leader is to be assigned to one and only one client, what assignments should be made? Formulate this LP problem and estimated Project Completion Times (Days) for the Fowle Assignment Problem.

With three project leaders and three clients, there is a total of nine possible assignment alternatives.

The alternatives and the estimated project completion times in days are summarized in Table

\begin{tabular}{lrcc} \hline & \multicolumn{3}{c}{ Client } \\ Project Leader & 1 & 2 & 3 \\ \hline 1 Terry & 9 & 18 & 3 \\ 2 Carle & 13 & 15 & 5 \\ 3 McClymonds & 6 & 14 & 9 \\ \hline \end{tabular} \begin{tabular}{lrcc} \hline & \multicolumn{3}{c}{ Client } \\ Project Leader & 1 & 2 & 3 \\ \hline 1 Terry & 9 & 18 & 3 \\ 2 Carle & 13 & 15 & 5 \\ 3 McClymonds & 6 & 14 & 9 \\ \hline \end{tabular}