b'In 1976, Johnsons commissionedand has been ever since. and built its first pellet mill. It startedsupplying pellets for the live export trade PELLETS OR CHAFF? response was an emphatic no. But in Brunei and South-East Asia, the pair found customers By the 1970s, JT Johnson & Sons was thriving,were more open to it. Thats when Max realised thanks to Max Johnsons enterprising ways.pellets were the way to go, says Denis.With money in the bank and confidence in the veins, the company set about planning anJohnsons had been supplying chaff to the expansion into the live sheep export trade withlive export trade since the mid-1960s, but a newand cutting-edgehigh-fibre pellet mill.ships were getting bigger as the live export market expanded further, and Max could With a firm early standing in the export trade,see the need to make his business more Maxs entrepreneurial mind turned to otherscalable. He knew pellets were the answer.thingshow much space a bag of chaffSo in 1976, Johnsons commissioned and built takes up, for example. Chaff is bulky, makingits first pellet mill. It started supplying pellets freight costly. Max realised that compressingfor the live export trade and has been ever since.the chaff into pellets would cut freight costs substantially.Mr Tan still wanted his chaff though, in big bulky bags. And they paid a fortune for itBut the Singapore market still wanted chaff, nottoostill do, laughs Denis.pellets. Max and Denis flew up to see MrTan and took some pellet samples with them; his 42 JOHNSONS100 YEARS IN THE MAKING'