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16th June 2026
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
The ISBE SIG on SMEs and Growth and the Faculty of Business and Law, ARU, are proud to present a webinar by Dr Vikram Ramakrishnan from the Centre for Business and Society at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge.
This webinar introduces how process-based simulation modelling can be used to study the robustness and resilience of complex supply chains and industrial networks. The central aim of the session is to show how simulation can help researchers and practitioners model disruption scenarios, observe their effects across a network, and use the results to support better decision-making.
The session is based on a dairy-centred industrial symbiosis case in the agri-food sector, where by-products and waste streams from milk processing, including cheese production, are redirected into circular value chains. Such networks can improve resource efficiency and reduce waste, but their performance depends on the reliable movement of time-sensitive by-product flows between firms. The seminar focuses on how a hybrid simulation approach, combining Discrete Event Simulation and Discrete Rate Simulation, can be used to model firm-level operational disruptions such as machine failures, production scheduling delays, coordination issues, and human-error-related interruptions. It then shows how these disruptions can propagate across the wider network through ripple effects, affecting the continuity and reliability of symbiotic flows.
Through disruption scenarios, the session demonstrates how simulation can assess changes in quantity coverage, temporal coverage, and technical exchange efficiency. These indicators help explain how network performance changes under disruption and how simulation modelling can support the design of more robust and resilient circular networks.
Speaker Bio: Dr Vikram Ramakrishna
Dr Vikram Ramakrishnan is a research fellow in the Centre for Business and Society at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. His research focuses on sustainable supply chain modelling and analytics in agri-food networks through circular economy principles. He applies simulation modelling, supply chain analytics, and systems thinking methodologies to examine how networks and systems can become more resource-efficient, resilient, and circular. He has ten years of combined experience across industry and academia in operations and supply chain management, with expertise in analysing complex supply chain processes and translating research insights into practical decision-support tools.
We can’t wait to hear more from Dr Ramakrishnan and look forward to seeing you at our event.
Date: Tuesday 16 June 2026
Time: 14:00-15:00
Please add the following Teams Link to your calendar.
https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/380307535048519?p=Fl94erCzeHsiq9ffF1
Meeting ID: 380 307 535 048 519
Passcode: cr7oa77E