Pig Ear Tagger Concept

Abstract: This thesis consists of the development of a concept for a new product, the primary purpose of which is to quickly and easily attach legally required tags to the ears of livestock pigs. The project was undertaken at Attention, a product development company based in Copenhagen. For reasons of food safety, EU regulation stipulates that all pigs that are moved from their place of birth must be tagged with a permanent plastic tag on which the pigs country and farm of origin is marked. These tags consist of two elements, which when joined together form a tag. A large force is required to drive the male element tip through the ear tissue and make it stick in the female tag element socket. The common plier tool that is currently used is inexpensive, but strenuous and slow to use. The existing automatic tagging machines are expensive, and force their users to adopt a specific and rigid work routine, which on many farms is impossible. This demonstrates the need for a tool that is as handy and flexible as the plier tagger, but that provides the high rate of tagging as the existing automatic taggers. The Ulrich and Eppinger method for concept development was used as a basis for the structure of the project. This method bears great resemblance to the method employed by Attention design, which was being formalized into a revised written set of documents as this project was undertaken. The stages Specification, Ideation and Concept Development was included in the project. In the Specification phase, the user needs were studied extensively. Study visits to Danish pig farms and agricultural trade shows were made. With the aid of online resources, subjects such as good pig handling practice, relevant regulations and the general state of the European pork industry has been studied. In the Ideation phase product concepts that would satisfy the user needs were generated. Drafts for mechanical solutions to the problems inherent in these product concepts were drawn. The problems were broken down into smaller problems. The Ideation phase was concluded by choosing a combination of sub-concepts to become the basis of the concept. The chosen concept included a battery powered motor and a new shape for the plastic tag elements. Unlike existing tags, the concept tags are to be molded in strips of 20. In the Concept Development phase, the concept was developed mainly by specifying the various mechanisms necessary for the function of the tagger. Keywords: product development, agriculture, handheld power tool, ear tags, pig