Afimilk Dairy Management Case Study
How we helped Afimilk succeed
The Customer
Afimilk is a dairy management company that produces cattle monitors, farm management software, and parlor automation devices. Headquartered in Kibbutz Afikim, Israel, Afimilk products are used by over 15,000 farms spread across more than fifty countries. Their products are designed to make dairy herds healthier, easier to manage, and more efficient.
The Challenge
Afimilk's cattle monitoring solutions provide farmers with all the information they could ask for heat detection, rumination and eating time data, individual health alerts, group digestion alerts, and more. Cows are differentiated from each other with a simple cow identification number, which is stored as NFC data in the individual cow's monitoring device, the Aficollar.
To access this identification number, farmers used the built-in NFC capabilities of their mobile phones. This, however, had some substantial downsides. Chiefly, the required proximity to the animal puts hardware at risk.
"Cows are almost 1,000-pound animals. When the customer puts their cell phone against the cow, they risk breaking, damaging, or completely ruining the cell phone," said Itay Rejzewski, Product Manager for Afimilk.
The Socket Mobile Solution
After researching dedicated NFC readers, Afimilk settled on Socket Mobile'ss DuraScan D600 NFC Reader/Writer. The D600 is easy to use, developer-friendly, and highly durable—an essential feature for Afimilk's customers.
Rather than using an SDK, Afimilk integrated the D600 based on keyboard input. They encountered some challenges along the way and reached out to Socket support.
"The support was fantastic! Everything I needed, I had Vincent Coli [Senior Product Manager, Socket Mobile] helping me immediately," said Rejzewski.
The Results
"It made the task of reading the tag easier. Much easier compared to reading with a cell phone," said Rejzewski.
The D600 saves labor, improves efficiency, and lowers the risk of damaging a device. It allows Afimilk's customers to focus on what matters: the data and its significance to their operation.
Encouraged by positive customer feedback and a smooth rollout, Afimilk wants to build upon the success of the D600 implementation. They are looking to develop more NFC-enabled products in the future.
