Late this year Wire Specialists Incorporated will move into a newly remodeled building at 126th Street and Lisbon Rd. For partners Charlie Mauer and John Mueller, it's a return to their roots. The building is across the street from the site where both apprenticed. A foundation of expertise in tool and die has created Wire Specialists' niche as an EDM contract supplier. Charlie, John and all their crew are journeyman tool and die makers, journeyman machinists or candidates for the Wisconsin state indentured EDM apprenticeship program.

Every job sent to Wire Specialists is destined to be programmed and wirecut by a journeyman machinist or a journeyman tool and die maker, and that frequently has resulted in money savings for customers. "Because we all are experienced in the work our customers are doing, we notice mistakes and question them before they end up as costly problems," explained Charlie. In addition to catching errors, the other advantage of having a second set of experienced eyes look at a print is the potential for improvements that can be suggested by someone who knows both toolmaking and EDMing, he added. "A lot of times we can save customers money."

At Wire Specialists there aren't separate programming and operating functions. Production employees program the jobs they run. Bob, Wire Specialists' main sales representative, believes that the opportunity to learn programming and grow in job responsibility and earnings has attracted many long-term employees. "For a company that has been in existence only 10 years, we have a number of people who have been with us eight or nine years," he said.

Wire Specialists' EDM work is divided among production, mold inserts, and stamping die inserts for area customers and others nationwide. "We have a couple hundred customers and we service them to the hilt," Bob said. Customer service and quality are foremost in importance to him. "We are a custom shop, quality oriented and known for reliability. We look for partner relationships, and work hard to maintain them."

Having outgrown its Bobolink Ave. location in Menomonee Falls, Wire Specialists has 10 wire EDM machines and operates two shifts. An in-house toolroom allows the company to prep parts and to control delivery ."We are looking to add a CNC machining center so that we can offer a total production package," Charlie said. "And we'll expand into EDM sinkers, too." he added.