Arthur Jorge Correa, a student of the Department of Mechanical Engineering (DEM) of the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC) won the “Student Simulation Competition”, from the American company Simio, which involved the participation of thousands of students from all over the world.
Within the scope of this international competition, the DEM Master’s student in Engineering and Industrial Management developed work in the area of sports logistics, more specifically linked to the evaluation of operations and logistics during a football match. «The objective was to simulate operations in a football stadium with a capacity of five thousand people, which had many problems, for example, long queues and, consequently, low supporter satisfaction and also low levels of profits, because with long queues, supporters ended up giving up using the available services», begins by explaining Arthur Jorge Correa.
In order to solve these problems, the student built a base model, which reflects the current situation of the system, implementing measures to improve operations, profits, and fan satisfaction, through Simio’s simulation software. «One of the improvements implemented was a quick queue at the entrance to the stadium, because, for example, supporters could bring a bag or not, and the current model considered that supporters without a bag had to wait for supporters with a bag to be searched. So, I implemented a queue for supporters who don’t have a backpack and go directly to the stadium entrance», describes the DEM student.
«I also considered the option of volunteers in the stores and bars of the stadium, which would allow for a reduction in costs, quick queues also in the bars for supporters who only wanted to buy drinks, and also an adjustment in capacity, because many services did not have staff to meet all demand», he adds.
For Arthur Jorge Correa, who won a prize of 2500 dollars, having participated and won this competition «is fundamental for the curriculum, but it is also important in the sense of generating competition and, of course, learning more about simulation, as it is an area in which I would like to work in the future”.
The Simio company was created to provide cutting-edge solutions in the area of design, emulation, and scheduling of complex systems. Based in Pennsylvania, this US company is dedicated to providing a possible set of simulation and production scheduling tools. Simio’s global partner network spans the globe, with representation in over 28 countries.
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