Tuesday, June 17, 2008

New invention introduced in Fayetteville: Swedish “Moving Floor” is Better for Animals

A moving floor is the newest weapon in the struggle for better conditions in livestock stables and at dog and puppy shelters. The manure is automatically removed, the smell is gone, the comfort is significantly increased for the animals and the farmer can operate more efficiently.

The revolutionary "moving floor" is now introduced in Fayetteville and the United States by a Swedish company.

The Swedish inventor, Tommy Lindvall has worked with the invention "Moving Floor" for 14 years. Now everything is finished - and the revolutionary moving floor has been tested, approved and commercialized in Sweden.

"But the Swedish market with its nine million people is too small and we must find new, bigger market places", he says. That’s the reason why he contacted the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce South Central, which is collaborating with Fayetteville Economic Development Council and Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce in order to bring "cleantech" products and technologies from Sweden to Fayetteville and from Fayetteville into the entire U.S. market. Fayetteville, with its "Green Valley" intentions, is the hub for this "green" transfer between Sweden and the U.S.

Tommy Lindvall and his daughter Peg, who serves as the Marketing Director for the company "Moving Floor", are now in Fayetteville launching the Moving Floor system as a result of the Fayetteville-Sweden program.

They have installed a Moving Floor at Fayetteville’s animal shelter where it will be used, and demonstrated, for a month or more and after that moved to a pet shop in Fayetteville. The shelter lodges between 150 and 200 dogs and puppies at any time. "We have met with several prospective partners and I am pretty sure we will have a great success here", Lindvall says.

The Moving Floor concept is a system that has been developed to allow for completely automatic manure cleaning. The animals - it could be dogs and puppies, cattle and calves, hogs, horses, poultry - walk on a rubber floor that moves very slowly in intervals and at will automatically transport the manure to a water tank there the run off is stored in a safe and odorless way. The floor is always clean and pleasant for the animals; for people it looks nice, interesting and attractive. The system can also spread bedding automatically - and remove it automatically.

"A lot of time is saved for the farmer or the personnel at the shelter and time is money", Lindvall says. "The heavy manual cleaning work is not needed any longer and good hygiene is always achieved".

The cleaning interval and speed which the floor moves can be controlled automatically or manually. Good environment for both workers and animals is provided. By avoiding slatted floors, a softer lying surface is created and the animal’s hooves and paws are spared.

"Good animal welfare is created, and that is really something good", Lindvall says.

The system is powered by compressed air or electricity - but can also be powered by solar cells. The floor can even be moved by the animals own weight, at which external power sources are not needed.

By connecting automatic straw dispensers, feeding mechanism, weighing cells (that weigh the animals daily) and a simple computer system, all handling of the animals can be done without a labor force with huge cost savings as result.

Steve Rust, President and CEO at Fayetteville Economic Development Council, is very optimistic. “As an ex farm boy and having now spent nearly a full week learning and understanding the Moving Floor technology, I’m extremely pleased with the response it has received,” he says.

Per-Erik Persson at the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce South Central is also optimistic: "The Moving Floor company is the beginning only the tip of the iceberg. More Swedish companies will come to Fayetteville and establish here - and I think it will be soon".

Five Swedish companies, including Moving Floor, all of them with state of the art technologies, have recently visited Fayetteville and Arkansas. "They are extremely happy with their visits and I am pretty sure that at least four of them will start business in Fayetteville before the end of this year", Persson says.

Another group of Swedish companies, with "green" technologies and products needed in America, is scheduled for August and September.

The Moving Floor technology has a world wide patent protection.

The partnership with the Fayetteville Chamber has made this possible. Without their financial assistance we would not have been able to team with the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce - South Central United States (SAAC-SCUS).

Contact: Steve Rust, FEDC President & CEO

479-442-8885; Cell: 200-6090

Per-Erik Persson, tel: 601-383-0759

Tommy Lindvall, tel: 011-46-70-846 86 25

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