Today, TARGAN, Inc. (TARGAN) celebrated the grand opening of its Raleigh, North Carolina-based headquarters. The new 100,000-square-foot facility will serve as TARGAN’s operations hub, housing the company’s research and development, sales and marketing, and leadership teams. The facility also includes a state-of-the-art manufacturing floor for the development of high-speed, automated systems designed to transform the animal protein production industry.
A revolutionary life sciences organization, TARGAN creates systems that use high-speed imaging, feature recognition, artificial intelligence, robotics, and microfluidics tailored for the commercial poultry industry. It is the first company of its kind to expand its corporate footprint to the Raleigh area.
“TARGAN’s mission is to empower animal protein producers with enhanced efficiencies via breakthrough technologies,” shared TARGAN CEO Ramin Karimpour. “The Triangle is the perfect place to grow this business, thanks to its robust life sciences industry, exceptional talent pool and varied educational institutions.”
The first two innovative offerings TARGAN will bring to market include a feather sexing identification system and an automated, targeted vaccine delivery system. The sex identification system is a unique and fully automated system that can determine the sex of individual chicks to allow separate sex rearing by poultry producers. This approach not only reduces feed cost and waste, but also optimizes bird nutrition. In addition, the vaccine delivery system has the capability to precisely vaccinate up to 100,000 chicks per hour against harmful diseases that decrease the animal’s quality of life and impact producers’ profitability.
Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting event was attended by an array of industry and government leaders. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Wake County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Shinica Thomas and Raleigh Mayor Pro Tem Corey Branch joined TARGAN executives and employees, along with dozens of poultry and biotechnology industry leaders at the ribbon-cutting celebration.
TARGAN recently announced its first commercial collaboration with Wayne-Sanderson Farms. TARGAN will continue to operationalize and manage its AI-powered poultry systems from the Raleigh-based facility.
“TARGAN is creating novel solutions to produce labor and cost efficiencies across an industry that’s had little opportunity for innovation,” continued Karimpour. “This isn’t just about automating animal protein processing. We are utilizing cutting-edge technology to integrate sustainable processes into the industry that result in increased reliability, greater cost-reduction and a larger impact overall.”
With a track record of successfully commercializing products within the poultry sector, the company now sets its sights on expanding its offerings to encompass both aquaculture and livestock. The company’s commitment remains focused on developing and installing AI-powered systems, with the Raleigh-based facility serving as the central hub for these endeavors globally.
