In terms of development it would be true to say that the Di-Spark Group in 2011 is much more of a general precision subcontractor. Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) still plays an important role in the overall scheme of things but only represents around 50% of its total business. Investment these days is much more likely to be made in machining tools – a statement evidenced with the recent purchase of three 5-axis Mikron milling machines and an Integrex J200 mill/turn centre from Yamazaki Mazak.

But that’s only part of the story. Since November 2010, nearly £750,000 has been invested in new equipment and machine tools. As Mr Light explains the transition from being a pure EDM subcontractor to an all-encompassing precision engineering company was evolutionary.

“We’ve always had some machining capability but the catalyst for change materialised in around 2002,” he says. “An aerospace-based customer came to us with a job requirement that involved machining a five-faced prismatic part from solid. The work involved not only wire erosion and spark erosion but also a significant amount of machining and the problem was at the time, we only had a 3-axis milling machine so the number of set-ups was horrendous. Whilst we made a really good job of the component, our methods were far from efficient.”

This duly prompted the purchase of a Mikron 5-axis machine from Agie Charmilles – a supplier with whom Di-Spark had built a longstanding relationship on the EDM side. “I think we were one of the earliest adopters of 5-axis machining,” Mr Light recalls. “The company’s strategy changed at that point – we had a number of key customers in high tech industries whom required motorsport machining, aerospace machining, oil and gas machining, medical machining and defence machining and we decided to focus on offering a superior, all encompassing service to those customers. We could have chased every piece of business that came up but that approach simply didn’t fit our business model.”

This is reflected in Di-Sparks current financial figures. Five years ago, 75% of Di-Spark’s work was EDM focused. An analysis in 2010 reveals an exact 50/50 split between EDM and machining. “The EDM business is very steady but static,” Mr Light declares. “The real growth recently has been in our advanced machining capability.”

As a Group, Di-Spark currently employs 35 members of staff and occupies three business units with a fourth soon to be acquired. Although there is some obvious interaction between the three units, essentially they are set-up as distinct manufacturing cells: wire erosion; advanced machining; and spark erosion. The plan is to move the entire spark erosion cell into the new building leaving space for a dedicated mill/turn cell. Mr Light elaborates: “From a development perspective, we seem to take an evolutionary step forward every ten years: 30 years ago we took our first steps into wire erosion; 20 years ago we ventured into spark erosion; 10 years ago we focused on 5-axis milling and now we’re looking at setting up a manufacturing cell dedicated to multi-tasking mill/turn machining.”

In the same way that Mr Light likes to build strong, long lasting relationships with customers, the same can be said for suppliers. Over the years he has remained loyal to Charmilles for wire erosion equipment, Agie for spark erosion and Mikron for milling machines. The supplier of choice on the mill/turn front is looking to be Yamazaki Mazak. “I recently purchased an Integrex J200 multi-tasking mill/turn centre and it’s an excellent machine,” Mr Light enthuses. For the new unit, I’ve got an eye firmly on another Integrex but this time the new I200. The great thing is that it accommodates HSK tooling which means compatibility with our other machines.”