Story and photos by C. H. Bush, editor

Give 10 different people paint brushes and paints. Put a complex model in front of them and ask them to paint exactly what they see. The results might amaze you. Some of the pictures will not be recognizable. Some will slightly resemble the model. Others will be close approximations. Finally, one painter in the group turns out an exact duplicate of the model. Why? Because he's not a dabbler. Instead, he's an artist, an expert graphic designer, skilled with paints and brushes.

"Oddly enough, Its pretty much that way in the field of EDM machining, too," says Frank Zsemlye, co-founder-partner of Placentia, CA's EDM Xpress. "Probably 30% of our customers have old wire EDM machines stuck a in corner of their shops somewhere, but when they attempt to pro-the process than they realized. That's when they come to us for help."

"The real difference is experience," adds Richard De Rosa, Zsemlye's equal-partner co-founder. "People get tired of subcontracting out EDM work, and they think that, if they get a machine, their problem will be solved. But that, of course, is not quite true. A lot of people own pencils, but that doesn't make them artists."

"As Richard said, the difference is experience," Zsemlye says. "We started EDM Xpress in June, 2002, which, is only seven years ago, but Richard and I have been working together exclusively in EDM since 1985. The result is we have a vast library of EDM experience. We've done it all for just about every industry out there. Richard is an expert in wire EDM machining and—."

"Frank is an expert in sinker EDM machining," De Rosa adds. "Most of our business comes from shops and manufacturers who bring us their toughest parts to machine. When we decided to form a partnership, we believed our combined experience and know-how would give us an edge over most start-up companies. And, so far, we've been proven right."

5-Year Business Plan

The partners began planning their move 8 years before they actually jumped out on their own.

"We had got together, moonlighting, making replacement parts for Charmilles," Zsemlye recalls. "We were working days as EDM machinists and nights doing manual machin-ing."

"That's when we started planning the business," De Rosa says. "We started buying manual equipment, you know, mill, lathe, grinder, and building replacement parts. We also spent about 4 months making a detailed 5-year business plan. We were working 60 hours a week, and were kind of short on energy, so it took the 2001 recession right after 911 to get us off the dime."

"Basically we could see the handwriting writing on the wall where we worked," Zsemlye says. "We decided that might be the best time to leave, rather than wait until we had no choice. That way we had control, not events."

De Rosa: "What happened was that real estate started go-ing through the roof, so we drew on the equity in our homes, our 401Ks, our life insurance, everything. We put everything we had accumulated over the years into one basket. We went to the bank with our business plan, and we were able to se-cure a business loan, and that helped us a lot."

"We started out with a 2 brand-new Charmilles wire EDMs, a Charmilles hole popper and one Charmilles sinker," Zsemlye recalls. "We knew the difference between older ma-chines and new ones, so we wanted the latest, most advanced technology on the market."

"It's funny, really," De Rosa says. "I remember meeting the machinery movers to move into a 3500 square-foot space we rented in Anaheim, CA and they were scratching their heads saying, `You know what, we haven't moved machines into a building in a long time because of the recession. All we've been doing is taking them out. Are you guys really just starting up?' I said, `Yeah, starting up.' They said, `Well, lots of luck.'

"Not Luck, Experience

As it turned out, the partners didn't need much luck."We made our own luck," Zsemlye recalls. "We already knew a lot of people in the industry, and some of the cus-tomers showed up at our front door before we even got our machines in. `When are your machines coming?' they asked. It gave us a nice feeling to have customers waiting."

"But we didn't just sit back and hope customers would on the road, cold calling, banging on doors, telling people about our shop and our experience. That paid off big time. Two years ago we bought our own 8400 square-foot build-ing here in Placentia, and we have 13 employees working 20 hours a day in 2 shifts."

"We now have 13 Charmilles in the shop," Zsemlye says. "We have 5 wire EDMs, 2 hole poppers and 6 sinkers. Plus we have mills, lathes, grinders, saws and bead blasters for support. The bottom line is when it comes to EDM, we can do anything our customers need. We've come a long way in seven years."

The Secret of Success

The partners say their business plan played a big role in getting them where they are now.

"We bought this building just at the end of our 5-year plan," De Rosa says, "and that was in the plan. The bank saw how we had followed the plan all along, so they loaned us the money we needed to get into the building."

"But the plan is only part of the story," Zsemlye adds. "The real secret is in how we treat our customers. We had seen how some shops treat their customers, and we decided to be differ-ent. We're accessible. A customer can call and talk to me. He calls back 5 minutes later, and he gets Richard. Customers get the same straight answers from both of us. No BS. The truth and nothing but the truth, and they like that."

"Plus, we know our customers are going to buy their own educate out customers about EDM. We want them to buy EDM machines, because they will go out and sell EDM work. When they get the tough jobs, they come to us. Most shops don't think that way, but we do. Our customers appreciate it."

Charmilles Shop

De Rosa and Zsemlye also believe that their concentration on Charmilles EDM machines has contributed heavily to their success.

"Our customer base is very diversified," says Zsemlye . "We have people in the aerospace, medical, commercial, tool and die industries coming to us, and because we have a broad range of Charmilles EDMs, we can handle anything they bring in."

"We just bought a Charmilles FL 440 CC wire EDM, which gives us a really big work envelope," De Rosa says. "With that one we can handle parts up to 22" x 14" x 16" thick. But, in the shop over all, we can run anything from .003" wire up to .013" wire and parts from very small up to 24" thick."

"We stuck with Charmilles for a good reason," Zsemlye says. "We've worked with them for more than 25 years. We built replacement parts for them. They're Swiss-made machines, and as far as we're concerned they're the best in the world. We'll stick with them in the future, too."

"We're now ISO 9001; 2000 certified, "De Rosa says. "We plan to train our employees, and grow the business until we double our sales. With this building we have lots more room to add new machines, stay on the cutting edge with the latest, greatest Charmiles EDMs."

EDM operator Justin Too sets up EDM Xpress' newest acquisition, an Agie Charmilles FI440CC wire EDM. This machine, the largest of 5 wire EDMs operated by the company, has a capacity of 22" x 14" x 16". The company operates 13 Charmilles machine.

Frank Zsemlye, right, and partner Richard De Rosa discuss a new project in front of a Charmilles Roboform 55P sinker. The partners are Charmilles specialist with more than 25 years experience on the machines. Zsemlye is a Sinker specialist, while De Rosa, a tool and die maker, specializes in wire EDM.

Close up of a part ready to go in one of EDM Xpress' 3 Charmilles 35P sinker EDMs.

Row of 3 Charmilles Roboform 35P sinker EDMs in operation at EDM Xpress. Operators are John Ho, foreground, EDM operator Julian Rosales, background right, and toolmaker Todd Heywood.