FROM STEAM TO AI

A Journey Through Two Careers

I began my career at 16 with a four-year apprenticeship at Field and Grant, an electrical manufacturing company in Birmingham. My first year was spent at college, completing a general engineering course covering machine shop processes, welding, and fabrication—an essential foundation for what followed.

The rest of my apprenticeship took me through various departments, where I learned to design and build motor control panels and electrical distribution boards for industries such as nuclear power, steel, and food production. Clients included British Nuclear Fuels, British Steel, and Cadbury.

A Parallel with Tom Rolt

By the late 1970s, programmable logic controllers (PLCs) were transforming industrial automation, but Field and Grant was slow to adopt them. As my apprenticeship ended, the company was struggling to embrace the new technology, so I moved on.

My next step took me into the marketing team at OD Systems, a manufacturing control software company based in Manchester. OD Systems had engaged a local PR consultancy to generate editorial coverage in the trade and technical press. Their writing was polished but often riddled with factual errors, which I found myself constantly correcting. Eventually, I convinced the managing director to drop the PR agency and bring the task in-house. That marked the start of my 12-year career in PR.

In some ways, my career mirrors a broader historical shift in technology—similar to what Tom Rolt experienced in his time. Rolt began his career working with steam-powered traction engines, only to witness their decline as the internal combustion engine took over. Just as PLCs reshaped industrial automation in my field, Rolt saw steam power giving way to new technologies.

AI and a Sense of Déjà Vu

Like Rolt, I used my technical background to communicate complex ideas, though with a different purpose—promoting contemporary industrial advancements rather than preserving past ones. While Rolt captured nostalgia, I translated technical concepts into compelling stories for clients.

As AI reshapes content creation, I’m making another career move. After running a small engineering projects and maintenance business for the past few years, I’ve trained in web design and social media and am returning to PR with the launch of my new business, Tech PR.

My AI experiments reassure me that there’s still a place for experienced professionals in technical and industrial PR. AI may be advancing, but for now, the nuances of engineering communication remain firmly in human hands.

Over the years, my PR career took me through agencies such as TPR, Priority Services, Camargue, Golley Slater Brooker, and Powell Cooper Drew. I built a reputation as a safe pair of hands for technical and industrial clients, on occasions even making engineering design suggestions.

Recently, I’ve been experimenting with AI, asking it to generate blogs on topics I once covered in product application stories—so long ago that they aren’t even available online. The results gave me a sense of déjà vu: beautifully structured, well-worded copy, littered with technical inaccuracies. Just like the PR agency at OD Systems.

AI confidently declared that austenitic stainless steel is magnetic and that centrifugal pumps move air—both incorrect. This highlighted AI’s potential but also its limitations. While it offers businesses efficiency, cost savings, and content personalization at scale, it lacks creativity, struggles with quality control, and presents ethical concerns. The challenge lies in balancing automation with human expertise to ensure content remains accurate, compelling, and reliable.

When I started at OD Systems, the smallest computers required specialist transport. By the time I left, we were putting them on the back seats of cars. Now, I access AI on my phone.

Returning to PR in the Age of AI

We also share, across time, a love of canals and narrowboating. I have a space on our own narrowboat, Progress, where I can retreat to write.

Rolt transitioned into writing, producing biographies of great engineers, books on engineering history, railways, and the canals of England. He and his wife even lived aboard a converted wooden narrowboat, where he built a writing desk for his work. He became a technical writer, using his engineering expertise to document and advocate for the preservation of industrial heritage.

His works, such as Green and Pleasant Land and High Horse, blended technical detail with historical context, reflecting his deep appreciation for the cultural and emotional impact of the technologies he loved.