He then worked on the production side at Clyde Paper in Glasgow, makers of coated papers, before joining Portals, the world’s largest banknote and security paper manufacturer.

Over a period of 12 years at Portals, he was for part of the time employed in the preparation of feasibility studies for pulp and paper mills in Pakistan, Brazil, the Philippines and Poland.

As Production Manager there he was part of a team responsible for introducing across-the-board, state-of-the-art technology and for radical development of the production process.

He was seconded for two years as General Manager of a security paper mill in Pakistan, where he was responsible for commissioning, proving trials and on-going management. He was also responsible for the management and commissioning of paper machine rebuilds in Europe and the U.K.

He then managed a speciality pulp mill owned by the Dexter Corporation producing non-wood pulps for the Dexter mills in Scotland and France and for third parties in Europe. During his time new products were introduced and the turnover was increased tenfold.

Bob joined Reed International in 1988 as a Divisional General Manager and was very soon involved with other managers of Reed Manufacturing Group in the MBO to form Reedpack.