O impacto dos gargalos na eficiência de distribuição de refeições em restaurantes universitários

• Ano de defesa: 2025
• Autor(a) principal: Mandlhate, Milton Mário
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Santa Maria; Brasil; Engenharia de Produção; UFSM; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção; Centro de Tecnologia
• Palavras-chave em Português: Restaurantes universitários; Eficiência de distribuição de refeições; Simulação de Eventos Discretos (SED); Gargalos produtivos; University dining halls; Meal distribution efficiency; Discrete Event Simulation (DES); Production bottlenecks; CNPQ::ENGENHARIAS::ENGENHARIA DE PRODUCAO
• Link de acesso: http://repositorio.ufsm.br/handle/1/34578

As highly frequented locations, particularly during lunchtime, University Dining Halls (UDHs) are susceptible to long and time-consuming queues. In addition to causing inconvenience and dissatisfaction among consumers, prolonged waiting times may indicate potential bottlenecks in the process, negatively impacting meal distribution efficiency. This study aimed to assess the operational impact of bottlenecks on the efficiency of meal distribution in UDHs operating under an all-you-can-eat configuration. A narrative literature review was conducted to contextualize the research and define key efficiency indicators (average queue waiting time, resource utilization rate, and lead time). Discrete Event Simulation (DES) was employed as the primary methodological approach, enabling a more in-depth evaluation of the current meal distribution scenario in UDHs. Based on the identified improvement opportunities, 17 future scenarios were developed, with three being considered the most promising (Scenarios 4, 16, and 17). Scenarios 13 and 16 exhibited approximately equal average queue waiting times (0.54s and 0.56s, respectively), suggesting that eliminating turnstile setup time (Scenario 13) and operationalizing the inactive turnstile (scenario 16) may serve as interchangeable solutions for reducing queue waiting times. Furthermore, a relationship between lead time and turnstile setup time was observed, as the only scenarios without turnstile setup time (Scenarios 3, 11, 13, 15, and 17) presented the lowest lead times. The primary benefit of improving meal distribution efficiency in UDHs for consumers is the reduction of queue waiting time. Thus, all future scenarios improved upon the current situation in terms of average queue waiting time, offering viable alternatives for enhancing the existing system.