In 2013, Galway-based agribusiness Easyfix brought its flexible cubicle system made from plastic to the EuroTier trade event in Germany, which is the world’s largest trade fair for new farming products.

Easyfix had been selling its flexible cubicle system for a number of years at that point but the concept of a plastic cubicle was still very new. Apart from two other companies with plastic cubicles, all of Easyfix’s competitors were still offering rigid steel cubicles.

Fast forward to EuroTier 2018 and more than 15 different types of flexible cubicle systems were on display as manufacturers of animal equipment moved to build comfort and animal welfare into their products. For Easyfix’s sales manager Ronan Boyle, this example reinforces the importance of staying ahead of the competition with a relentless focus on new product development.

“You have to keep moving forward with new ideas and new products,” says Boyle. “We’re always trying to come up with new ideas even though there’s a lot of trial and error in developming new products.”

Founded in 1996 by Michael Earls, Easyfix started out making slat rubber, primarily for the Irish market. Today, the business has sales in more than 50 markets around the world.

While slat rubber remains the number one product for the company, Easyfix has increasingly innovated over the last decade to develop more and more new products. The company launched the flexible plastic cubicle in 2009 having developed an in-house method of bending rigid plastic.

“There was no off-the-shelf technology to bend plastic pipes the way we wanted,” says Boyle. “Our team designed our own equipment in-house to bend and shape pipes and cubicles as we need.”

Technology

The most recent product developed by Easyfix using this in-house technology is its Evolve feed barrier. Unlike conventional feed barriers, the Evolve feed system has no top rail, allowing the cow unrestricted head movement when feeding.

According to Boyle, a dairy farm in Scotland that has installed this system has seen feed intakes increase 1.5kg per cow per day, with milk yields rising accordingly as the animal doesn’t have to work as hard to feed.

“The beauty of a product like the Evolve barrier is that you can immediately see the difference it makes in terms of increased feed intake and milk production. Because the plastic is curved with the animal, the cow will gain about 12in of extra reach feeding through this versus a conventional system. The unrestricted head movement also means the animal has fewer neck sores from rubbing and scratching against the feed barrier,” says Boyle.

Boyle says the reaction from farmer customers to this latest product since its launch in 2018 has been very positive, particularly for indoor or robot dairy systems.

One of the best known innovations developed over recent years by Easyfix is its Luna range of enrichment toys for pigs, which help prevent aggressive pig behaviour in pens. Traditional enrichment toys for pigs had been suspended from the ceiling. However, the Luna range was designed for the floor to mimic how a pig keeps its nose to the ground.

Boyle says the company has gained a lot of traction in Europe, North America, Korea, China and Japan from the Luna range. The biggest inhibitor, he says, is the poor pork price over the last number of years.

In more recent years, Easyfix has become much more nimble in new product development. Less than five years ago, developing that concept of a new product would involve sending drawings over and back to the UK to make a prototype cavity mould. Getting the initial mould right from the preliminary drawings could take anywhere from 12 to 16 weeks.

Today, Easyfix is able to develop its own prototype moulds for new products in as little as 72 hours after investing in 3D printing technology allowing it to develop and tweak drawings and design concepts in-house.

“The 3D printer allows us to keep all our new product development in-house and be far more agile in developing new tools and designs,” says Boyle. “This also protects the intellectual property of the business because we’re no longer sending drawings for new designs to third parties, where there’s a chance the design could leak out.”

This focus on new product development is giving Easyfix an edge in huge agricultural markets around the world and allowing the company to grow and win new business. The company made the bold move to open its first office outside of Ireland last year in South Dakota to service the Midwest of the US.

It’s a move many Irish agribusinesses have made in the past and found difficult. However, with a strong pipeline of new and differentiated products to give it an edge over established rivals, Easyfix is giving itself every chance of success in markets like the US.