The early years;
30 years ago Barret Burston Ltd. first made plans to
establish a joint venture malting plant with the Kirin Brewery Co. Ltd.
of Japan. A delegation from Kirin first visited Perth in July 1974 and
inspected the Welshpool site. Further meetings were held to discuss the
joint
venture, its operation, and to consider replies to a questionnaire
from the foreign Investment Committee.
Preliminary Government approval for the joint venture company was
given in October 1974. Over the next twelve months there were continuing
discussions in both countries during which a “key plan” for
the process design was developed. The decision to proceed with a malting
plant with an initial capacity of 20,000 tonnes was made in October1975;
this was later increased to 27,000 tonnes by modification of the manufacturing
methods and timing.
With the completion of all necessary documentation, final government
approval to enter into a joint venture was given in February 1976.The
then president of the Kirin Brewery Company, Mr. Sato, visited Australia
to sign the joint venture agreement in Melbourne on March 4 1976.
The birth of a company
Evaluations were completed, and on June 30 1976, the K.B.B. Malting
Co. PTY LTD, was established. The company’s first board meeting
was held the following month with Mr. A. R. Lobban as Chairman, Mr.
J. D. Burston as Managing Director and Messrs. P. C. Gent, Y. Sato,
M. Yamazaki and I. Yamamoto as Directors. The first commercial batch
of malt was completed on April 15 1978, and the first stage of the
plant opened by the then Premier of Western Australia, Sir Charles
Court on June 27 1978.
In 1982, Kirin acquired total ownership of the venture and decided
on a plant expansion, which was started in December 1983. It was to
increase the annual production from 27,000 to 42,000 tonnes and comprised
of three new silos and a two-floor malt-drying kiln. In 1984, the company
name became Kirin Australia Pty Ltd. and Mr. Samuro was appointed as
the first Managing Director. Further technological improvements have
expanded the present capacity to 46,000 tonnes.
Growing capacity
Kirin Australia started by exporting 20,000 tonnes of malt per year
exclusively to Kirin Brewery in Japan. During the past twenty-five
years, Kirin Australia has developed to the stage where the company
now produces over 40,000 tonnes of malt per year. This malt is supplied
not only to Kirin Brewery and other breweries in South Asia, but also
to the domestic market in Western Australia.
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