Implications of implementing industrial symbiosis for supply chain dynamics

Abstract

Industrial symbiosis has been recognized as a promising strategy to move towards a Circular Economy. However, its impact on the supply chain dynamics is still unexplored. For this reason, with this work we aim to contribute to this research gap analysing the dynamic performance of symbiotic supply chains. Through the agent-based modeling technique, we study two identical three-echelon supply chains, where there is a symbiotic exchange of waste between two manufacturers. We analyse a set of scenarios based on different demand/supply trade-ofs and lead time of the treatment process for the waste, and evaluate them in terms of bullwhip effect. Based on our results, we state that the volume of order decreases with the increase of the symbiotic flow, while the order variability increases with it. Our findings suggest that, under certain conditions, symbiotic supply chains can turn into self-contained systems.