b'Left Denis and Pam would often host the Asahi team when they visited Australia. (L-R) Peter and Denis Johnson and Asahi Industries executives Itoh-sanand Chinone-san in Deniss lounge room in Kapunda.Asahi joining us in Victoria for a joint venture, says Denis. On 28 August 1995, they signed the partnership agreement to build the Horsham factory together. It was a significant event for the company, says Andrew Hayward, general manager at Johnsons. Asahi liked One of the ongoing challenges forthe idea of being a preferred customer out Johnsons was stock availability due toof the Horsham development. They had the the drought. By the early 1990s, Denis wasmoney and they also had good credit on an considering other parts of the country heinternational banking level. could reliably source quality hay from. They went ahead and built the facility with He found supplies in Victoriain particular,Asahi funding it. But then Johnsons sold off Boort in the states north, and Horsham in the Boort plant to Balco and put the cash and the Western District. Things were going soassets into the Horsham facility, so it becamewell that in 1992, they went ahead and built a 50/50 joint venturethe beginning of a factory in Boort. They also had their sights Johnson Asahi. on a Horsham plant, but plans were thwartedfor the time being. It was a shit year with In 1990, Chris Johnson moved from the the drought, Denis explains. Plus it cost farm back into Kapunda and built his own a fair bit to build the first one.family home there. During that time, he was production manager in the factory in Jack was living in Japan, learning the Kapunda, organising containers, employing language and working with Asahi Industries,people in the factory and scheduling which had been a good customer of Johnsonscontainers for the hay and grainuntil the oat for manyyears. They started talking aboutproduction business was closed later that year.54 JOHNSONS100 YEARS IN THE MAKING'