Today, RealWear, the world’s leading provider of assisted reality solutions for frontline industrial workers, announced that DanBred, a global biotechnology company based in Ballerup, Denmark, has deployed RealWear assisted reality wearables for the remote inspection of pig herds. The technology deployment helps DanBred meet stringent biosecurity requirements while reducing the amount of travel conducted by its employees and customers, thus, contributing to lowering carbon emissions. Since deploying RealWear devices, DanBred’s customers have already seen time savings of up to several days including the quarantine time for a farm visit, and its employees save roughly 12-48 hours per farm visit.

DanBred is one of the world’s leading international pig breeding companies. It has approximately 140 employees within Denmark and its subsidiaries, additionally, a network of partners helps to secure activities in more than 40 countries globally. The company provides its customers with a complete supply chain, including world-class genetics and comprehensive service solutions to ensure a sustainable, high return on investment for pig producers worldwide.

Why Biosecurity in Pig Breeding Matters

DanBred has supplier farms throughout Denmark, where there are strict biosecurity measures – such as quarantine for visitors – in place. People are among the biggest risk factor when it comes to on-farm health. Employees or visitors can unintentionally bring in undesirable bacteria and viruses to the herd, this is why strict external, as well as internal biosecurity measures, are crucial. 

The introduction of disease will at the best of times lead to economic losses due to lost production efficiency and increased medicine costs, in the worst-case scenario the disease can lead to an eradication of the whole herd. 

DanBred Identifies RealWear as a Remedy

To further increase compliance with those measures, DanBred looked at secure wearable solutions that would enable it to provide customers with virtual access to a farm, negating the need for customers to visit face-to-face, thus, dramatically reducing the risk of disease transmission from humans to animals. DanBred’s subsidiaries and partners purchase the devices and send them to key account customers’ farms. 

By doing so, customers can display the livestock virtually and in real-time, so the status of the livestock can be evaluated by DanBred. The technology will also be used for claims processes and technical support, thanks to the ability to immediately view the animals and the surroundings. 

Commenting on the deployment, Sшren S. Thuesen, Head of Solutions & Supply Management from DanBred says, “If there’s an issue in a stable, DanBred can be there straight away without the need to travel, which saves a considerable amount of time.  This helps us be more agile from that perspective, while assuring our customers that we can come to their aid very quickly.”

DanBred also has a team of technical services and solutions managers, based mainly in Denmark, who attend to customers. By using RealWear, DanBred can now train its customers remotely. Because of the great success with RealWear thus far, DanBred also plans to conduct pig selections remotely in the future. 

Working with RealWear partner Innomize, a Danish specialist in developing new innovative service solutions for its customers, DanBred selected RealWear’s HMT-1 head-mounted devices, running remote expert guidance software – Remote eye by technology provider Wideum. Wideum’s Remote eye is a hands-free, cloud-based, screensharing solution. According to DanBred, the main factor in choosing RealWear’s solution was that it was ready to use out of the box and is perfectly suited to the dusty and noisy conditions that are experienced in farms. RealWear’s dust resistant and hands-free rugged design, coupled with active noise cancellation microphones, were vital features that influenced the decision to opt for the RealWear devices, as was the fact that the devices are also very easy to clean. Additionally, the device straps can be changed every time the device is worn, which is a very important consideration for hygiene purposes.

DanBred Sees Industry Changing Due to Wearables

DanBred sees the wider industry changing as a result of wearable assisted reality and anticipates more adopters of this technology in the future. “Biosecurity and health are crucial in professional and profitable pig production. We have a globally recognised health system, and as a result there are very few pig diseases in Denmark. Therefore, it’s essential that these levels are maintained with tight biosecurity measures. Because we adhere to such high levels of biosecurity, we can export to almost every country from Denmark,” adds Thuesen.

“DanBred is one of the first in its industry to adopt assisted reality. The technology is providing them with a huge advantage, where they can be present at all times for their customers, reducing carbon emissions and the risk of disease spreading,” said Jon Arnold, Vice President of EMEA, RealWear Inc.