For timber and wood processing trade journalists the big technology exhibitions, like the UK’s W show series, or Germany’s Ligna, just won’t be the same from now on.
They will be minus the familiar, friendly figure and perfectly formed press releases of Weinig UK public relations consultant and veteran technical writer, Claude Daly who has retired after an impressively long career aged 82.
Having penned machine installation case studies and technical news stories featuring wood processing businesses the length and breadth of the UK (and Ireland), he’ll also clearly leave a gap in the industry generally.
Claude was that favoured thing for trade editors; a PR and writer who made their lives easy! That meant his contributions would almost invariably get used, and this, in turn, secured him work with a raft of big brand machinery makers. Besides Weinig, his clients included Wadkin, JJ Smith, Busellato, SCM, and Striebig.
According to fellow timber trade press veteran (and former TTJ editor) Neil Herbert- Smith, Claude developed a reputation in the sector second-to-none for delivering clean copy to length that told the story.
"Our initial contact was in the 70s, when he was PR manager for Wadkin Group," he said. "Since then, he’s been my go-to PR man for information, whether in my time as editor of TTJ, Woodworking Industry, Asian Timber, or, for the last 28 years, Woodworking News. His releases were succinct, accompanied by high quality photography, and on time."
As Neil, other editors and Claude’s clients will testify, the essential key to his success in his very specific and demanding business, where press releases are spiked for failing to get to the point in the first sentence, was his evident pride in his work, plus a drive, which could see him producing 10 installation case studies monthly.
No doubt these attributes partly stem from the fact that he honed his technical writing skills at one of the most quality oriented technology businesses there is – Rolls-Royce. But clearly his background and route to that engineering holy of holies also played their part.
The journey started in Lucknow, India. Born in 1931 to an Irish/Indian father and Welsh/Indian mother, Claude grew up there in a so-called "railway colony".
"My father was a senior manager with East Indian Railways and we lived in a beautiful colonial bungalow, complete with servants quarters!" he said. "Then, aged seven, I was packed off to boarding school at Naintal on the lower slopes of the Himalayas. It was all very British and schoolhouse names included Robin Hood, Friar Tuck and Little John. Ironically I now live in Nottingham near Sherwood Forest, surrounded by pubs with the same names!"
An Indian childhood came to an end, however, when Mr Daly senior decided that the country in 1947, newly independent and riven with political conflict, was now no place to bring up a family.
"So he decided we should come to England," said Claude. "It was a whole new start and quite daunting, especially arriving to smog over Tilbury!"
Shaping his career
Not only did Claude and his family have to come to terms with a new country, school days were also over and, in what became a career-shaping move, he enrolled at Chelsea Aeronautical College.
"Like most boys then, I was fascinated by aircraft, but my father also told me aviation was the business of the future – and he was right, of course," he said.
Armed with his Chelsea Diploma, Claude did his National Service in the RAF. This was spent "square bashing" and working as a corporal technician "as piston planes like Spitfires and new jets like Meteors roared past". But with an eye to the future, Claude also took the opportunity to go on Rolls- Royce technical courses. This led to his successful application to become a trainee technical author at the company on leaving the RAF in 1953, .
"I wrote maintenance and overhaul manuals and loved it," he said. "I also had rapid promotion because of the huge growth in aviation. Manuals became vital legal documents."
Claude ultimately became publications manager at Rolls-Royce East Kilbride, a role he retained until the 1971 economic crisis when he and many others were made redundant.
A two-year stint as conference organiser for Production Engineering Research Association followed and it was at one of their events that he met the managing director of Wadkin, and was asked to launch their publications department.
"It was a whole new field, but I instantly found the wood processing industry and its scope for developing new technology interesting."
Undaunted by another redundancy in 1982, when Wadkin ran into trouble, Claude started his own business from his garden office, together with wife Irene and his daughter and long-term work colleague Jan, to whom he attributed "a lot of my success".
"The combination of my experience and low overheads saw my client list quickly grow," said Claude. "It was also a time when timber technology was evolving rapidly and there was increasing demand for clear technical information."
The list of companies that featured in his installation pieces read like a timber processing who’s who; including Blumsoms, Stairplan, Hall & Tawse, Benton Furniture, Mike England Timber, Cheshire Mouldings, EW Turner and many dozens more, from small merchants to major processors.
"Over 30 years I wrote over 3,600 articles," said Claude. "They appeared in most UK trade journals, and as far afield as South Africa, New Zealand, Singapore and the Middle East."
Claude talks highly of the capabilities of all his clients; each pushing back the technical boundaries in their respective fields. But due to the company’s growth and clearly a special personal affinity, it was on Weinig that he increasingly focused. In fact, its machines account for over 960 of his installation articles.
"They’re leading innovators, sticking to development and marketing budgets, even when the market slows," he said.
"While they’re big, they also have specialist manufacturers within the Group dedicated to specific sectors. And they cover their products with in-depth back up, doing anything customers need to be profitable. More than anything, they’re thorough. I spent several days at their Tauberbischofsheim HQ in Germany, talking to senior management, before starting work for them."
During his career, of course, Claude has also had to absorb, understand and communicate some huge leaps in timber processing technology. Among the key developments have been the increase in automation and software-driven pre-programmability of machines. At the outset manual tool setting was standard. Now Holzher, part of the Weinig group, offers processing lines that work unsupervised for hours, even alerting operators by phone if they encounter problems.
Claude also highlights specific game-changing innovations, like Weinig’s PowerLock rapid tool setting system and Conturex joinery centre.
"In Conturex you have a single unit capable of processing all components needed for a product, that previously required numerous separate machines," he said.
Another key development has been the trickle down of advanced technologies to smaller, more affordable equipment.
"Machining capabilities once restricted to companies that could afford a top end Powermat moulder, are now available to small workshops," he said.
Weinig’s Cube compact four-side planer, launched in 2012 is a good example, he added. "It’s simple to use, and affordable, but uses sophisticated pre-programmable technology. I believe it’s the sort of thing we’re going to see more of."
Articles featuring the Cube were, in fact, among the sign-off pieces from the man Neil Herbert-Smith describes as "UK woodworking’s PR man par excellence".
Claude has tapped his last release and, although he sadly lost his beloved wife Irene two years ago, he is now deep into a full, busy retirement, which includes photography and music, walking the dog three times a day and spending time with four children, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
But while you can take the man out of the world of technology you can’t quite take the technology out the man. Claude stays in touch with journalist friends and former clients, and "keeps the brain ticking over" by surfing on the computer and iPad. You suspect, just occasionally, he’ll be keeping tabs on where timber processing is heading next.
