b'As the new millennium dawned, Robbiesense rather than having many rules around and Mark were honing their skills workingsafety. People could have a cigarette wherever alongside Denis and Chris, as Johnsonsthey wanted or read a magazine wherever they continued to lead and innovate with wanted. So out went the cigarettes, out went new technology. the magazines, he laughs. That was the first step. It was hardchanging the culture within By the early 2000s, Robbie was working on the workplace.the buying side of the business, having worked his way up from the bottom just as his dadThe maintenance team got involved in had done in the 1970s. In 2002, Dad said heimproving the efficiencies of the machinery wanted me to get more involved in the factorymotors, which the consultancy had found side, because he was bringing in a consultancywere only running at 30 per cent. Robbie company to assess the business, says Robbie.overhauled all the companys systems, setting up work zones and encouraging staff to The consultancy came down to the factoriesunderstand their areas in terms of safety.in Kapunda to assess the overall operatingHe also began rethinking data management, efficiencies and then came back to Johnsonssuch as spreadsheets and paperwork, and with a report. Robbie went down to Adelaide toinstituted daily morning meetings. work with the firm two days a week. It was a big leap from buying. I was just getting my headWithin twelve months, we went from doing around efficiencies generallylike how the bestone-and-a-half containers to two-and-a-half Formula 1 teams work together to change tyres,to three per day, says Robbie. We paid this motors, fuel. Plus the importance of having aconsultancy company $163,000 back then, but good team to get the best performance out we got so much efficiency out of the hay plant of the car.for it. It was pretty amazing.Robbie took that knowledge back into the factories and started changing the culture. Back then, we still used to use a lot of common 66 JOHNSONS100 YEARS IN THE MAKING'