Felipe Vilhena

Operations · Networks · Practical AI

A little curiosity.
A more useful answer.

I’m Felipe. My work connects operations and network optimization. Here, I explore how practical AI and small, transparent tools can make complex decisions easier to understand.

Try a small experiment

A personal home, with a small lab attached.

The little lab / Experiment 01

Synthetic data · Educational

When is a second hub
worth it?

Shorter journeys. Another fixed cost.
Move the sliders and see where the balance changes in a fictional delivery network.

Set the scene

01,600 parcels
0.50×2.00× base rate
Delivery target · within
Try a scenario

Every change stays in your browser.
No uploads. No live AI calls.

Sketch of the network
Network to display
One hub serving four fictional regionsSchematic, not a geographic map. All regions are served from West hub. AshBrookCoveDune West hub East hub
One hub · all parcels start at WestSchematic · not to scale
Daily cost / fictional USDWithin 2 days
One hub$3,361
55%of parcels
Two hubs$3,744
100%of parcels

Two hubs cost $383 more per day.

They bring 45 percentage points more parcels within the 2-day target.

THE TRADEOFF

All data is invented. Outputs are educational, with no employer data or commercial validation.

Download synthetic data
Look under the hood Assumptions, calculations & limits

A deliberately small model

Four fictional regions keep the same demand shares. One hub serves all regions from West. With two hubs, Ash and Brook stay with West; Cove and Dune move to East. Both hubs stay open even at zero demand.

Delivery time = 1 processing day + distance ÷ 400 km per day. A parcel meets the target when this time is less than or equal to the chosen deadline. This is a simplified deterministic rule, not a delivery forecast.

Daily cost = fixed cost + (parcels × handling cost) + (parcels × weighted distance × $0.007 × transport multiplier). Transport uses one-way distance; return trips are excluded.

Only the network sketch changes when you select a hub layout. Both cost and service comparisons always remain visible.

The numbers behind the sketch

Synthetic distance and demand assumptions
RegionShareWestEast
Ash30%120 km760 km
Brook25%300 km520 km
Cove25%620 km180 km
Dune20%900 km140 km

One hub: $900 fixed/day + $1.80/parcel handling. Two hubs: $2,100 fixed/day + $2.00/parcel handling. Weighted distance: 446 km vs. 184 km.

At this transport rate, costs cross at about 734 parcels/day.

Left out on purpose: capacity, inventory, congestion, variability, emissions, taxes, hub setup costs, and route optimization. Fractional parcel shares are allowed. Dollar amounts are rounded only for display. At zero demand, service percentage is undefined.

Selected work

A small collection, on purpose

One thing you can try.

01

The second-hub question

Interactive prototype

A transparent cost-and-service experiment. Built for exploration, using only fictional inputs.

Operations thinking / Browser-based tool / First edition

This collection starts here. More work belongs here when it is useful and ready to share.

A note on this space

Make the thinking visible.

I’m interested in the space between a complicated system and a practical decision. Operations and network optimization are part of that lens; experimenting with AI is another.

This is a place to turn a question into something you can inspect, adjust, and learn from. Small experiments. Clear assumptions. Room to be wrong.