Just a few days ago, Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) hosted its 2011 Swine Health Seminar in Phoenix. Before the first session began, I had a chance to speak with Tyler Holck, Director of Swine Technical Services. to learn about some of the trends that are happening in the swine industry.
“The industry continues to consolidate. So with all the different issues related with costs and profitability, the environment, and welfare, we’re seeing it’s getting focused in fewer and fewer hands,” said Holck. “So one of the big issues we deal with is that the customer base actually shrinks while the pig base is actually growing. So another challenge that is related to one of our big issues is profitability. They’re looking at us to give them good answers with regard to animal health.”
Holck said that BI wants to be available for all its customers so as they grow, they want to be able to provide more technical services. That means they are making sure they’re providing the services most valuable to them while still being available to their entire customer base.
To meet these goals, they have tremendously grown their team – more than triple in nearly 4 years. This is on the technical side of the business, so Holck said its provided a lot of opportunity to focus on the disease side like PRRS but also in supporting new products like their FLEX line that includes CircoFLEX®, Ingelvac MycoFLEX® and Ingelvac® PRRS MLV.
In addition, it has made his team more responsive and able to do more long-term projects. They do a lot of field trials and customer projects such as diagnostic investigations with their customers in a timely manner that helps them make good decisions. The results have not only been closer working relationship with these customers but also more information for the industry as whole.
The 2011 Swine Health Seminar is not the only time BI hosts events of this type. Holck said they often hosts seminars in conjunction with major meetings and they are continuously striving to bring to market products and information that will benefit the industry.
You can learn more about BI on their website and also in my full interview with Tyler here. Tyler Holck Discusses Trends in Swine Industry
Check out the 2011 BIVI Swine Health Seminar Photo Album.