4dBarn has been taking the comprehensive 4dBarn® Designed coaching program to the japanese market for a year now. About ten projects are ongoing and new ones are started every month.
4dBarn® Designed is an individually customized coaching program where robot barn work routines are evaluated and optimized to maximize wellbeing. The coaching program puts into practise the best knowledge from Finland and around the world. The goal of the coaching program is a building and operation model that benefits both people and animals even decades from now.
Japan’s dairy cattle farms are mainly in the same size range as farms in Finland and they are mostly family businesses. In both countries farmers encounter similar challenges and also in Japan there is a need for the 4dBarn concept, which brings wellbeing to both the dairy farmer and the cows. The work time sufficiency and difficulties in recruiting workforce are accelerating the shift to robot milking in both countries. However, only updating the milking system is not enough for the operation to be on sound foundation, but also the work routines and management inside the barn have to change.
- A modern dairy barn takes into account the basic needs of a cow and round-the-clock comfort, and additionally the wellbeing of the people working in the barn. Everybody benefits from efficiency and clarity, tells the 4dBarn CEO Virpi Huotari
The cows are already milking in the first japanese dairy barn created with the 4dBarn concept. The barn set to operation this fall is a little special though: instead of a family 4dBarn coached the employees of technology company Farmnote DP. Even though it is a big company running the project, the size of the barn is 100 cows, which is similar to the size of a family farm. The farm manager Yuto Taira says the barn efficiency is triple to that of an average Japanese barn. It is quite an accomplishment.
COVID19 halted the trips to Japan but accelerated the coaching business
Despite the corona pandemic 4dBarn has been growing thanks to the new business.
- Practically our work in Japan is coaching individual entrepreneurs via remote connections. Another factor important to us is growing the know-how of the Japanese dairy sector through webinars and in the future also with a digital coaching platform, which we are developing with funds from Business Finland, CEO Virpi Huotari tells.
Link to Farmnote’s press release about the opening event of the new barn on 4th of September 2020:
https://farmnote.jp/press-releas /20200902.html?fbclid=IwAR3TdebbdtGxn2lbri79HpHvA_mvg4o60Jl-ztP-Oixs4UE0mUxLfOV1qLA
Additional information:
Virpi Huotari, CEO, 4dBarn, phone number +358 40 078 6933, virpi.huotari@4dbarn.com
Jouni Pitkäranta, architect, phone number +358 40 016 6058, jouni.pitkaranta@4dbarn.com
https://4dbarn.myshopify.com/ru/
What is 4dBarn Oy?
The services of 4dBarn Ltd focus on creating work time efficiency in a robot barn with fluent work routines, planned cow traffic and gates. The goal of operational planning and coaching are the smooth everyday routines without giving up the wellbeing of the cows and entrepreneurs. 4dBarn ensures the functionality of the barn they plan and the workflow efficiency by monitoring and measuring the barn’s use of work after the barn is finished. The company’s unique international comparison material shows the improvement potential.
4dBarn Ltd was founded by Architectoffice Jouni Pitkäranta Oy and ProAgria Oulu in 2016.