The North-West Corner Rule is a method used in solving transportation problems in Operations Research. It is a heuristic approach that provides an initial feasible solution for the transportation problem. Here’s how it works:

1. Initialization: Start at the northwest corner (top-left corner) of the transportation tableau.
2. Allocation: Allocate units of supply from the northwest corner to the demand point in the first row and first column as much as possible, considering the supply and demand constraints.
3. Adjustment: Adjust the supply and demand values accordingly after the allocation.
4. Move to the Next Corner: Move to the next cell in the tableau (either right or down) and repeat steps 2-3 until all supply and demand values are exhausted.
5. Completion: Once all supply and demand values are allocated, the initial feasible solution is obtained.

While the North-West Corner Rule provides an initial feasible solution, it may not always result in the optimal solution. However, it serves as a starting point for more sophisticated methods like the Modified Distribution Method or the Vogel’s Approximation Method to improve the solution iteratively.