29 – SPEED: Survey Methods, Transportation Studies, SocioEconomics, and General Statistical Methods Part 1
Apply "STEAMS" Methodology on Managing Europe Travel
Charles Chen
Applied Materials
Mason Chen
Stanford University
The objective of this project was to better manage European travel plans by limiting the time to 28.8 hours and cost to $500 used in transportation while attending as many conferences as possible. The input variables used were the intra-city time and expense; the response variables were the total time and expense. Design constraints were implemented, ensuring that the model was practical while defining the project scope. Only the fastest route, clockwise & counterclockwise, were studied. There are 5 variables (5 cities) and each segment has 2 choices: flight or train. Based on research, taking a train would better when traveling < 500km while taking a flight is preferred when traveling>1,000km (both are possible choices when the distance is in between). Research was further done on the aerodynamics involved in helping an airplane fly such as lift and drag and physics involved in trains such as friction and acceleration. Based on the costs & durations, only the Paris-Munich route is debatable on which transportation to use. Based on a multiple regression model built on mean time & expense, the predictive DOE model shows that Paris-Munich by train is more desirable than flight.