In mid-November 2024, US-based poultry technology company TARGAN, Inc. announced the signing of a contract with Polish firm IKO Kompania Drobiarska for the installation of WingScan™, its automated chick sexing system based on wing feather identification. This was announced at EuroTier 2024 in Hanover, Germany, through which TARGAN sought to demonstrate its commitment to delivering innovative, AI-driven solutions to the European poultry industry.
Founded in 1999, IKO is a fully integrated poultry producer within the Polish poultry industry, supplying quality protein products to leading retailers, wholesalers and partners across Europe, Africa and Asia. The company’s CEO, Zbigniew Idziaszek, stated that they are proud to be among the first in Europe to integrate WingScan™ into their hatchery, and that they anticipate a positive impact as they continue to expand operations, as the system aligns with their objectives of increasing efficiency, improving product quality and raising welfare standards at every stage of production. (*)
The WingScan™ system operates at a throughput of 40,000 to 160,000 chicks per hour, depending on configuration, with an accuracy of up to 98%. Automated sexing improves efficiency and performance, delivering downstream benefits at both farm and processing level. By implementing sex-specific flock management strategies on farm, flock uniformity can be improved, and ultimately the availability of sex-separated rearing enables optimisation of farm operations.
Ramin Karimpour, founder and CEO of TARGAN, states: “as the first commercial feather sexing system, our patented automated sexing technology has proven its value for North American producers, having processed nearly five hundred million birds to date. Now available to European customers, our WingScan™ systems have been specifically designed with the European market in mind, delivering reliability, accuracy and the right level of support to hatcheries.”
Viscon Hatchery Automation, TARGAN’s commercial distribution and service partner for WingScan™ in selected European markets, played a key role in facilitating the agreement with IKO. Their Area Sales Manager, Tomasz Zimnicki, commented: “This collaboration presents an excellent opportunity to meet the specific needs of the European market, as we are well positioned to capitalise on the downstream benefits at every stage of production — from the hatchery to the farm and the processing plant — whilst maintaining a strong competitive advantage. We are excited about the ongoing collaboration between TARGAN and Viscon and are fully prepared to deliver the highest quality support and service as more customers adopt the system.”
The European launch of WingScan™ reaffirms TARGAN’s commitment to advancing animal protein production worldwide through the delivery of next-generation, scalable automation that meets the growing demands of the poultry sector.