Profile - Rob Bell: A world of opportunity full of eastern promise for Yorkshire

STUDYING the route of a Dublin milk float is a task relished by Rob Bell – to say nothing of his fascination with a chocolate bar's journey around Tokyo.

He is intrigued by supply chains and believes we've got a lot to learn from the less-formal structures found overseas.

Mr Bell is the chief executive of Hull-based consultancy Archomai, an enterprise that helps businesses take their products into new markets.

The company name was chosen because Archomai (pronounced ar-khom-ahee) is Greek for "make a beginning".

It was founded by Mr Bell and Neil Watson to provide resources for high-growth businesses.

Mr Bell's big passion is India. Archomai recently opened an associate office in the Tamil Nadu capital of Chennai – formerly known as Madras –

and Mr Bell has become an adviser to the Confederation of Indian Industry Logistics Group.

Mr Bell grew up in Hull but has spent most of his adult life overseas. After attending St Andrews and Oxford Universities, he jetted off to Eastern Europe and India to find out what made logistics systems tick.

He's seen extremes of poverty and wealth, and realises that training is often the only way to escape the slums.

"The last job I had in the UK was a paper round,'' he said. "We share a lot of cultural things with India – they love us.

"I'm very upbeat about the prospects for Yorkshire and the Humber. We have got the built environment sorted. We need to generate more exports and could start with the learning sector."

Yorkshire is well placed to provide training for the millions of Indians who want to improve their job prospects by gaining qualifications. Of course, they can't all hop on an aircraft

at once.

With the growth of "virtual" means of teaching, such as simulators, Yorkshire could cash in on India's need to acquire a more sophisticated workforce.

"We have concentrated on the degree level," he said. "If we want to improve the Indian economy, it's all about the blue collar workers."

Mr Bell has held board positions in the EU, Asia and Gulf States and, through his links with the University of Hull's Logistics Institute, wants to help Yorkshire companies form lucrative ties overseas.

"In order to do this, we must understand that business is done very differently in the developing world. We demonise the informal economy – or black market – but fail to appreciate that it is the norm in many countries, as millions struggle to survive.

"For example, half of Mumbai's 12 million-strong population live in shanty towns. It's an existence characterised by overcrowding, power shortages and poor sanitation."

In his quest for an "ethical supply chain", Mr Bell finds inspiration from the 19th-century anti-slavery campaign waged by another man from Hull, William Wilberforce.

Globalisation has forced companies to develop better, cheaper and faster routes to market, Mr Bell said.

He added: "This has generated huge pressures on companies to shorten lead times, place smaller orders with few longer-term commitments and, become footloose in search of lowest cost operators.

"In the 1990s, consumers started to question working conditions; then, environmental concerns challenged process, products and packaging design and generated a clear sustainability edge to consumer behaviour."

Mr Bell believes there are challenges posed by the "legal polarities" between the formal market in the West – with its tax system and regulations – and the informal market found in places like India. Western governments are unsympathetic to those who don't own land and pay taxes, Mr Bell said.

He added: "Does this place the majority of the world beyond the pale of ethical consideration?

"For example, where there have been instances of the use of child labour; the test for an ethical supply chain is not so much that the company stamps it out but whether ethical sourcing creates an environment within which the supply chain and producers support an equitable and sustainable industry.

"Close down a factory full of children and you may close down a village with disastrous consequences. More needs to be done to ensure that this is not perpetuated. This is ethical sustainability."

People living in slums don't own their land so they can't rely on conventional banking. As a result, they are placed on society's margins.

Mr Bell observed: "However, even if they could afford to buy the property, the arthritic and too often corrupt legal system renders any transaction slow and opaque. A reform of the legal system is as long overdue as the banks."

These are weighty ethical issues that could take generations to resolve.

Closer to home, Mr Bell is keen to push the skills agenda using training technologies such as simulators.

US company MPRI is investing $100,000 to bring training simulators to Yorkshire. Its first European demonstration centre is being launched on July 22 at the Logistics Institute at Hull University's Business School.

The simulators will offer training for mobile-crane drivers, tower-crane operators, liquid-cargo handlers and port-crane operators.

The event is expected to attract executives from across Yorkshire as well as visitors from Poland and the Baltic states.

MPRI, which is based in Alexandria, Virginia, is a global leader in training products. Its simulators are widely used by commercial operators, emergency services, law enforcement agencies and the US military.

The partnership, which was brokered by Archomai, aims to give Yorkshire a competitive edge over the rest of Britain. MPRI and the Logistics Institute will carry out research into "technology-assisted" training, with an emphasis on the logistics and construction sectors.

For Mr Bell, the next step is to set up "a hub-and-spoke" skills capacity building programme.

He added: "This means upgrading and 'future-proofing' the Yorkshire and Humber labour force.

"This means a hub-and-spoke model with the demonstration centre at the Logistics Institute as the hub. Then there will be a series of spokes with the full mission simulators for key sectors."

These simulators can offer training for truck drivers, and people who work on airfields and the railways.

"Also, we are looking at supply chain security – a major growth industry,'' said Mr Bell. "Yorkshire and the Humber could be part of a design, training and accreditation programme. India has 450 million people to train by 2022. Yorkshire and the Humber can help."

ROB BELL

Title: Chief executive of Archomai.

Date of birth: September 21, 1955.

Education: Marist College, Hull; St Andrews and Oxford Universities.

First job: As a student working my passage from Rotterdam to the Persian Gulf on a super tanker, and as an interpreter for the Hull caravan industry.

Favourite holiday destination: India.

Last book read: The Strange Death of Liberal England, George Dangerfield.

Car driven: Austin A40 – well, if it was good enough for James Hunt...