Most manufacturing applications for EDM already exist, but they are merely waiting to be discovered and implemented. As this occurs, the increased use of EDM in manufacturing will continue to grow and diversify at an accelerated rate through a combination of necessity and imagination. Necessity will drive it because as newer and more exotic materials are developed, conventional machining operations will continue to reach their limitations. In manufacturing, there will always be a need or necessity to "find a better way" to make something. EDM has a great deal to offer in this quest.

Imagination will fuel the process by providing the ability to design tools and parts that previously weren't possible or cost-effective by any other method. The prospect of machining complex shapes in hardened or exotic materials to burr-free, split-tenth accuracies will continue to attract engineers and designers who are seeking an alternative solution to "traditional" methods.