The procedure is as follows Step 1 Start with the cell 1 1 at the north west corner of the transportation table and allocate it maximum possible amount x 1 min a b so that either the capacity of the origin O or the requirement for the destination D satisfies it or both Step 2 If X a cross off the first row of the transportation table and decrease b by a and go to step 3 If X 1 b cross off the first column of the transportation table and decrease a by by and go to step 3 If x a b cross off either the first row or the first column but not both Step 3 Repeat steps 1 and 2 for the resulting reduced transportation table until all the requirements are satisfied Note The N W corner rule of allocating values of the variables eliminates either a row or column of the table from further consideration and the last allocation eliminates both a row and column Hence a feasible solution obtained by this method has m n 1 basic variables Problem Find an initial basic feasible solution to the following TP using North West Comer Rule Solution 1 2 3 b a 1 2 3 F 1 10 0 2 Step 1 First allocate in 1 1 cell X 1 min 15 5 5 12 7 3 2 1 3 4 a 15 20 11 0 14 16 18 5 5 15 15 10 45 9 20 25 b 5 2 3 4 10 0 20 11 15 18 12 7 9 20 25 Step 2 Second allocate in 1 2 cell X 2 min 10 15 10 2 3 4 0 2011 10 0 14 16 18 5 15 15 1 45 7 9 20 25 14 16 18 5 5 15 10 Step 3 Third allocate in 2 2 cell X min 25 5 5