Warwick Machine Tools Ltd

Warwick Machine Tools: Embracing EDM

Warwick Machine Tools Ltd — 15/10/2025

MIM recently caught up with marketing professional Evie Boyle of Warwick Machine Tools, a Droitwich Spa-based company with a long-standing history in the specialised field of EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining). Acquired by Ian Holbeche within the past two decades, WMT has built a reputation for its deep engineering expertise and customer-centric approach.

WMT supplies a wide range of EDM machines, primarily for die-sinking, wire cutting, and hole drilling. Their portfolio includes prestigious global EDM brands such as Excetek and Zimmer & Kreim, offering options for both small scale workshops and large scale manufacturers. Evie Boyle, who also oversees marketing for WMT’s sister company, REM Systems Ltd, (which focuses more on automation, tooling, and software solutions) explains with enthusiasm that these machines are highly versatile and capable of working with hardened materials, making them suitable for a wide range of applications.

Evie noted the company's customer base is extremely diverse, from small workshops to large, multinational corporations.“Sometimes we sell to a customer working from a small tool shop,” she said, “and other times it’s to a global corporation outfitting a full production line”. A testament to the quality and reliability of their machines is the high rate of repeat business, with many customers returning to buy additional machines to support their growing operations. The company's approach of holding stock in their showroom means customers in the UK and Ireland can often have a machine delivered and installed within a week, a significant advantage in an industry where lead times can be lengthy.

The Power of a Physical Presence

Four years ago, WMT relocated from its original site in Warwick to a purpose-built facility in Droitwich Spa. The new location features a professional showroom, which has significantly enhanced their capabilities. This space allows for live demonstrations, where customers can bring in their own parts to test the machines’ performance. Evie emphasised the importance of this, stating, “It does make a difference when they can see the machine,” adding that the showroom helps customers visualise the machine’s size and how it will fit into their own facilities. She also noted the efficiency gained from this new setup, with some customers ordering a machine on the day of their visit and having it shipped out the following week.

A one-stop shop for EDM Solutions

Warwick Machine Tools prides itself on being a “one-stop shop” for its customers. Beyond the sale, the company provides comprehensive training, maintenance, and consumables including tooling and spares from their Droitwich Spa site. This all-encompassing support model ensures that customers don't have to deal with multiple suppliers. “When a customer can get everything, from installation to after-sales support, from one source, it simplifies their whole operation. It just works better when you are speaking to one knowledgeable team”, Evie shared. The company's small, tight-knit team, comprised largely of experienced engineers, enables excellent communication and a proactive approach to customer needs. Although marketing in the manufacturing sector was not Evie’s original career path, Evie feels inspired by the passion of the engineers she works alongside, and is glad to be part of such a knowledgable and professional team.

Their customer-first approach, coupled with their robust product offerings and commitment to customer service, ensures Warwick Machine Tools remains a vital and trusted partner in the UK and Ireland's manufacturing landscape.

Wire EDM Excellence: Excetek’s Precision Solutions from Warwick Machine Tools

Warwick Machine Tools Ltd — 30/04/2025

Available exclusively in the UK and Eire through Warwick Machine Tools, Excetek’s comprehensive range of wire EDM machines offer world-leading technology and capability at competitive price points that leave competitors struggling to keep up. Backed by continuous innovation from Excetek’s R&D and production teams, the machines are renowned for their high-quality construction and user-friendly NC control system. As a result, new customers often find themselves cutting parts on the very same day their machines are installed – and many return for additional Excetek machines to expand their operations.

So, what is wire EDM and how does it work? “Wire EDM, or electrical discharge machining, is a non-contact subtractive process that uses an electrically charged wire, typically made of brass, and a dielectric fluid to cut complex shapes into metal,” explains Ian Holbeche, Managing Director of Warwick Machine Tools.

He continues: “The process produces small chips and precise cut lines by melting or vaporising the material without physical pressure. This non-physical cutting method makes it ideal for materials that are difficult to machine conventionally, such as soft or flexible components, and is suitable only for electrically conductive materials.

“Machining a part using the process usually involves securing it in a suitable fixturing system and submerging the workpiece into a dielectric fluid, while running the wire through it to produce sparks as it passes an electric current between the wire and the part.

“So, the wire carries one side of the electric charge, and the workpiece holds the other. When the wire nears the part, an intense electric spark jumps the gap, melting tiny sections of the material. In the wire EDM process we can consider the electric spark as the cutting tool to create the desired shape in the material. The process also uses deionized water to flush away tiny metal particles during cutting.”

As an electrothermal cutting process, wire EDM can machine a variety of materials, including all alloys, superalloys (HRSA), and exotics such as steel, aluminium, brass, bronze, copper, carbon graphite, carbon steel, stainless steel, Inconel, and titanium. “The hardness of the material is no obstacle for wire EDM. Whether you are cutting P20 tool steel pre-hardened to 28-32 HRc or grade 2 titanium at 90 HRc, Excetek’s technology can handle it with precision,” says Ian Holbeche. "The same holds true for soft or brittle materials. Since no physical pressure is applied during the cutting process, parts are cut to exceptionally tight tolerances without any risk of distortion or damage," he adds.

With wire diameters ranging from 0.15 to 0.3 mm, wire EDM is especially suited for producing complex and intricate parts with tight tolerances, such as those required in highly regulated industries like medical and aerospace manufacturing. In fact, many manufacturers across these technically demanding sectors rely on wire EDM within their CNC machine shops to achieve the precision and quality required for their most critical components.

Why Choose Wire EDM for Your Machine Shop?

Unique and Complex Shapes: With wire diameters as thin as 0.15 mm, wire EDM excels in cutting intricate and complex shapes that are nearly impossible to achieve using other methods, all with unparalleled precision.

Superior Cutting of Hard Materials: Hard materials like Inconel, titanium, and high-nickel alloys can cause rapid wear on conventional CNC cutting tools. However, wire EDM’s electrically charged cutting process makes it ideal for tackling these tough materials, even cutting through carbide – the very material used to make cutting tools.

Consistency: Wire EDM can run multiple parts simultaneously, even when unmanned, delivering a high degree of repeatability and consistency. Many users operate their wire EDM machines overnight with little or no manned intervention, confident that each part will be identical upon completion.

Tight Corners: The small wire diameter allows wire EDM to produce tight corner radii that would be difficult or impossible for an end mill to achieve. Meeting exact corner specifications is critical for applications like mold making and extrusion plates, where even the smallest errors can lead to significant issues. Excetek machines feature Smart Corner Control, automatically adjusting feed and power to prevent corner "wash-out."

Tight Tolerances and Surface Finish: For parts requiring exceptionally tight tolerances, wire EDM is the solution. Excetek machines can achieve tolerances as tight as ± 3 microns and offer surface finishes as fine as Ra 0.3 microns, further improved to Ra 0.14 microns with the Super Finishing Circuit.

Large Part Capacity: Unlike traditional CNC machines, which may struggle to maintain tight tolerances on large parts, wire EDM handles even large workpieces while maintaining the precision required.

Perfect Fit for Mating Parts: Since wire EDM guarantees such a high degree of accuracy and precision, it is an ideal solution for mating parts that require exact specs for a perfect fit and function for critical assemblies.

The Excetek Advantage

Ian Holbeche concludes: “When conventional machining methods like milling and turning fall short of the precision required, wire EDM provides a superior alternative. Whether your parts need intricate shapes, tight tolerances, or high material hardness, Excetek’s wire EDM machines offer a cost-effective solution. At Warwick Machine Tools, we’re committed to delivering the best in precision machining – talk to us to discuss how our technology can solve your toughest machining challenges.”

Supporting the automotive industry’s re-shoring drive

Warwick Machine Tools Ltd — 20/11/2013

Jaguar Land Rovers drive to re-shore tooling and components for its premium automotive products created an immediate need for additional wire EDM capacity at Pontypridd Precision Engineering. An Excetek V350 CNC wire EDM machine tool from Warwick Machine Tools provides the capacity shortfall solution.

Based in Ferndale, in the valleys of South Wales, Pontypridd Precision Engineering, (PPE), was established in 1988 by managing director, Mal Price. From its impressive workshop equipped with CNC turning and machining centres, the family-owned and run business employs 20 experienced staff, including brothers Mike and Jason Price. The ISO 9001:2000 accredited company is well aware that quality is expected, so price and capability become the deciding business factors.

Growth for the company came predominantly from customers supplying the automotive industry. However, as Mike Price recalls, the company had too many eggs in one basket. He says: A few years ago a lot of automotive industry work went to China. For us the business dried up in a very short period, just a few months and it was gone.

This resulted in the company assessing its place in the market before going to look for work in other sectors. Fortunately, it secured a number of new customers in diverse industry sectors. It forced us to look at other sectors away from the automotive industry, so we approached petrochemical, automation, food and beverage companies. Now, the fluctuations in our business are reduced as the peaks and troughs in each sector do not overlap to any great extent, Mike Price states.

However, with initiatives from manufacturers like Jaguar Land Rover, to source tooling and components in the UK, the automotive supply chain is witnessing a revival. Mike Price explains: Our customer, Calsonic Kansei, gave us the opportunity to quote for the tooling for a JLR project, which we were pleased to win.

The tooling required an extensive amount of wire erosion work and, while the company had a CNC wire erosion machine, it would not have been able to cope with the extra workload. During an investigation of the new machines available, Warwick Machine Tools (WMT) presented the Excetek V350 CNC wire EDM machine tool to the company.

One of the major advantages with any CNC EDM machine is its ability to run unmanned, overnight and even at the weekend. Once set up they can be left to complete any raw material or components loaded on the worktable. However, Mike Price says, our existing machine was beginning to let us down with numerous maintenance issues. Because of this we could not run it out of hours, which resulted in our wire EDM capacity being even tighter and made the investment even more pressing.

He continues: Although we had little knowledge of the Excetek brand, the price was extremely competitive and we trusted the support available from WMT. We knew a few machines had been successfully installed in the UK and were running without any concerns. We got the new Excetek machine installed and it has been extremely good. Exceteks operating system is very different to our previous EDM machine, but a training package included with the purchase. WMTs senior engineer, Paul Barry, provided the training which got the staff programming on the first day.

Providing performance levels equivalent to the Swiss and Japanese wire EDM machines currently available, the Excetek V350 offers a cost saving of between £20,000 and £25,000 against any equivalent size machine tool, and the price from WMT includes training and installation. It is capable of accommodating workpieces up to 700 x 500 x 215 mm and weighing up to 450 kg. The fully equipped wire machine has U and V axis travels of 80 mm and +/- 30^otaper capability.

While the future plans involve programming most of the CNC machine tools used by PPE with its OneCNC CAM software, the Excetek is currently programmed at the machine. As Mike Price says: It is very straightforward for our staff to do this at the CNC interface, compared to say a lathe or machining centre.

Materials used include mild steel and hardened D2 tool steel for the running parts of the press tool. For higher volume press tooling PPE has used ASP-2005, powdered high speed punch steel that costs significantly more but lasts far longer.

Mike Price explains how the different materials are eroded: The Excetek machine can be loaded with standard brass wire, which we would use on general tool steel and mild steels. However, for Inconel or other tougher materials we would use coated wire which will allow the machine to cut 30 to 50 per cent quicker through this type of material. Also, a good wire machine removes most of the requirement to surface grind because the surface finish achieved is so good. This saves time and cost for the end customer.

Equipped with hydraulic forming presses and kinetic flywheel stamping presses, PPE will produce the ISIR (Initial Sample Inspection Report) batch of 200 parts to ensure the tool is to specification; however production volumes will be completed by the customer. We have comprehensive pressing facilities, so we might be tasked with producing a few hundred components so the customer can complete the radiator build. Once the tools are proven they will be sent to the customer for the ramp up in production volumes, Mike Price confirms.

There is usually a period of hand-holding for the customer where PPE will send staff to the customers facility to ensure the tools are set correctly in the presses. It removes any teething anomalies and allows PPEs experienced staff to see that the tools bed-in as expected.

As with many automotive projects the path is never smooth, design changes and hiccups in the planning are all part of what those in the industry supply chain expect, and staff at PPE take all these in their stride. Solid model and 2D design drawings for the finished components are sent to PPE for the tools to be developed from; the onus is put on the toolmaker to develop a press tool that works.

We now do more in a day than was ever possible as tooling delivery deadlines have to be achieved, Mike Price points out. We have never been afraid to invest in the necessary plant or skills required to deliver what the customer requires. If we need to invest in another wire EDM machine the package offered by Excetek would make it very difficult not to purchase another, possibly larger capacity, machine.

As well as machine investments the company is looking to build its workforce for the future, and for the first time in a few years the company is taking on a couple of apprentices with the support available from various initiatives. I have certainly noticed a growing desire to get into engineering, and I hope that companies can take these eager youngsters on and provide them with the skills and education that we will need in the industry for tomorrow and beyond, Mike Price concludes.

Established in Taiwan in 2006, Excetek Technologies focuses solely on wire cut electro discharge machine tool technology. Employing 75 highly skilled staff the company builds around 200 EDM machines per year.

The UK’s largest medal manufacturer blazes a trail thanks to Excetek EDM technology

Warwick Machine Tools Ltd — 30/04/2025

Worcestershire Medal Service, the largest medal supplier in the UK, stands as a testament to how a family business built on passion can flourish. With their new Head Office located on Bromsgrove High Street with a state-of-the-art toolroom nearby, the company has become a leader in medal manufacturing, thanks in part to the advanced EDM CNC wire cutting and precision hole drilling technology provided by the Excetek range from Warwick Machine Tools.

Established in 1988, Worcestershire Medal Service was born out of a fascination with medals in a shop window, which sparked a lifelong hobby for the CEO. Jack McDermott, who oversees the company’s toolroom, recalls how his father started the business with just a fax machine and a desk at home while working a day job in IT. “Nan always said it was a fad,” Jack says, “but… today we are 74 strong across the whole business.”

Originally offering a refurbishment and mounting service for medals, as well as buying and selling original and replica medals, the company soon expanded and relocated to a small office above a butcher shop in Catshill, just a stone’s throw away from where the toolroom is currently located.

Due to the inconsistent quality of the miniature medals from various suppliers, a decision was made in 2004 to invest in a factory. The factory originally manufactured badges and plaques but under the new ownership changed direction to manufacture full-size and miniature medals. It later expanded to fulfil contracts for St John and the Central Chancery, including prestigious awards such as the OBE, MBE, and Orders of Knighthood, covering both high civilian and military honours. Today, Worcestershire Medal Service handles all military awards and a large percentage of civil honours in the UK.

“Of course, we have to tender on price, quality, and delivery, as well as customer service,” Jack explains. “We won the contract for the Diamond Jubilee for the late Queen, while also branching out into the Commonwealth doing National Honours for many of the Caribbean countries. We also have customers in the South Pacific, Middle East, Africa, and Canada.”

Medal collectors represent a global business for the company, with discerning customers purchasing replicas via their online platform. However, the company’s expertise extends beyond medal collectors, securing a contract in 2018 with the UK Ministry of Defence to produce gallantry, campaign, and long service awards for the UK Armed Forces – a contract that was renewed in 2022. Following the accession of His Majesty King Charles III, Jack, at just 25 years old, became the youngest official designer of a monarch’s effigy for medals. His initials are now engraved beneath King Charles’ image on each medal awarded in the UK.

“For the Coronation medal, the designer at the Royal Mint did the obverse side…using traditional hand-carved plaster techniques on a 300 mm blank. Mine was done digitally using different skill sets – you could say one side represents ‘old school’ while the other features the very latest software and manufacturing technology,” Jack says. Jack’s father, not to be outdone, designed the reverse of the Coronation medal and its ribbon.

The order for the Coronation medal totals nearly half a million pieces, necessitating 40 sets of dies for production at the factory.

While Worcestershire Medal Service has been cutting medal die sets for around 15 years, its bespoke toolroom, operational for just over 2 years, now has 8 skilled staff and represents a significant leap forward. In addition to the scanning technology and software, the toolroom’s capabilities were also enhanced by the company’s ‘old school’ toolmaker, John, who is in his seventies and has since retired.

As Jack says, “John is one of the smartest people I have ever worked with and fortunately he is working with us to capture his knowledge and skills using technology. His input to the [machine tool] investments we made when we started Worcestershire Medal Toolroom was fundamental. The goal was to manufacture everything we possibly could in-house – the only things we outsource are hardening and surface treatments, or coatings.”

Alongside the ubiquitous surface grinder, a mill-turn lathe and a vertical machining centre were installed to accommodate the diverse shapes of medals, which are not always round. In addition to traditional machinery, “Wire EDM is a vital part of our toolmaking process because the medal is not just the round stamped piece, we have to produce the suspensions and so on, so we have a vast array of tools developed for this,” Jack explains.

He continues: “What Warwick Machine Tools offer with the Excetek range is perfect for us. They are a cost-effective solution that is incredibly accurate and reliable. For a company setting up a toolroom from scratch, it is perfect, and they have worked exceptionally well allowing us to get into different engineering sectors. The Excetek V400G CNC wire cut EDM was sized perfectly for the work we do, as well as having a compact footprint to fit on the 2,500 ft² shopfloor. For example, we can cut very small precision copper tungsten electrodes, getting four out of a 20 mm diameter bar.”

Providing comparative performance levels to Swiss and Japanese wire EDM machines, the Excetek V400G offers a major cost saving against any equivalent size machine tool, and the price includes training and installation. With travels in the X-axis to 400 mm and 300 mm in Y-axis, it can accommodate larger workpieces up to 750 x 550 x 215 mm weighing up to 500 kg.

Features like automatic wire feed and threading, submerged wire threading, and advanced programming options make the V400G an indispensable tool. Excetek’s renowned automatic wire feed and threading system is designed for continuous, unmanned operation around-the-clock. The AWT system allows the wire to be threaded precisely at the point of the breakage, ensuring nearly 100 percent reliability without needing to return to the start position. This is achieved through an automated annealing system that straightens the wire, enabling it to be threaded directly during machining. Submerged wire threading is also possible, which removes the need to drain and refill the tank. A water jet assist system is available for automatic wire feeds on tall workpieces. It accommodates wire diameters from 0.15 to 0.3 mm, which can be used and for extended operations, a 50 kg jumbo wire feeder can also be fitted.

Programming can be done using standard ISO G code or Excetek’s Icon Assistant conversational software, which uses the controls extensive database of cutting technologies.

Jack states that the Excetek HD400C EDM hole drill was purchased to produce Breast Stars for Orders of chivalry, which is “fundamentally a large shiny badge shaped as a star with multiple pyramid forms diamond milled on the surface to reflect light. Between almost every pyramid form is a 0.75 mm diameter hole that is there to let light through so the whole thing shines better”.

Continuing: “Before the Excetek HD400C we used a pillar drill loaded with a 0.75 mm tool going between the pyramids. This was both frustratingly time consuming for someone stuck on the job and extremely costly due to the amount of drilling tools being consumed or snapped. Now we can run unmanned and lights out using an EROWA fixturing system supplied by Warwick Machine Tools’ sister company, REM Systems, to accurately locate the workpiece.”

The wire EDM machine is programmed to cut the outline shape, incorporating sacrificial edges that are removed at the end of the process. The toolroom team uses plates mounted on the EROWA zero-point system to clamp these edges, allowing the workpiece to be moved between machines without any loss of accuracy or the need for re-setup. With a 600 by 350 mm worktable and axis travels of 400 x 300 x 400 mm in X, Y, and Z, the HD400C hole drill easily accommodates these precisely fixtured parts.

Typical of the work carried out, Jack highlights the Breast Star for the Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) or Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath (DCB). This intricate piece requires 256 precisely drilled holes, and the company has developed specialised programmes to achieve this using exactly one 0.6 mm diameter copper electrode. The hole drill is equipped with a tool changer, so that sister tools can be used to produce parts that require more than the 256 holes that a single electrode can achieve. The HD400C can drill holes between 0.3 and 3 mm in diameter in any conductive material with precision. Once drilled, the star is transferred from the hole drill on the EROWA fixture and positioned on the wire cutting machine to remove the surrounding ‘scrap.’ The clamping plate is then reloaded with a new star blank, and the entire process is repeated. Jack says: “The Excetek machines are perfect for our needs and the team at WMT has worked with us to get us up and running as efficiently as possible. In terms of return on investment, the wire machine has paid for itself within a year, which is exceptional.”

All of the details on the medal dies are meticulously hand polished to a mirror finish, ensuring that when the medal is struck, the detail is perfectly transferred with minimal additional finishing required. However, Jack notes that finding individuals interested in entering the engineering field has been challenging. “We had to find an apprentice to learn the intricate polishing we need to do, as our existing polisher, who has a wealth of experience, wants to plan for retirement, and we want to pass on the skills,” he explains.

Once again, the company is turning to technology to help, with the upcoming installation of a new £500,000 laser engraving machine. This innovative equipment will not only reduce die production time by half, but it will also enhance surface detail fourfold, and significantly cut final polishing time. This investment underscores the company’s commitment to pioneering technological advancements in an industry that is often traditional and conservative, further solidifying its role as an innovative leader.

Each of the millions of medals produced annually is hand-assembled. The foot fitting is attached to the medal, providing the interface for either a suspension bar or ring, which is hand riveted depending on the design. From transforming a blank steel billet into a fully polished and engraved die, to stamping, assembling, ribboning, and packaging - all processes are rigorously managed under the company’s quality control. As Jack emphasises: “You can get cheap and cheerful, but if you want a quality medal, you come to Worcestershire Medal Service.”

As a time-served, fully indentured apprentice toolmaker he concludes: “My passion is making things and thanks to the Excetek EDM machines from Warwick Machine Tools I get to do that every day.”