In the movie “300”, the Greek King of Sparta Leonidas, leads his army to face the approaching Persian hordes. Spartan culture accentuated strength, discipline, and putting the needs of the many above self. Spartans were feared far and wide for their battle prowess and relentless commitment to mastering the art of warfare. Lincoln Electric, shares many of the qualities that made Sparta great. It is a company with a focus on mastery, frugality, industriousness, and a culture that aligns everyone towards domination of an industry that they have held leadership in for nearly one-hundred twenty (120) years. In fact, as recently as 2014, they were the largest provider in the welding supplies industry, with over 14% global market share (Samani, 2014). 120 Years of Founder Influence Lincoln Electric Company was founded in 1895 by John C. Lincoln, who was joined by his brother younger brother James in 1907 (Lincoln Electric, Inc., n.d.). From the very beginning these no-nonsense brothers set about building a company that valued its customers first, prioritized frugality, focused on delivering ever increasing value and lower consumer costs. The company has a borderline fanatical commitment to achieving competitive advantage through an employee incentive system that drives productivity well beyond any norms for the industry, or manufacturers as a whole. To this day, the influence of the founders is clear in the entire structure of the company and its operating philosophies.
The Lincoln Electric company, under the leadership of James F. Lincoln saw a major shift in the way business was to be directed and operated with visionary mind-set emulating companies like Ford, Wal-Mart, Merck, 3M as focus was towards the customer’s needs and employee’s compensation. Philosophically customer needs become critical as the reason for being in business and the employees also being the vehicle in achieving the needs of the customers as the case study by Sharplin, A (1989, p.3) clearly positions the companies aspirations. James Lincoln places much importance on the relationship with employees that is guided by mutual respect and individual effort.
Lincoln Electric Company has a very strong culture based on shared assumptions values and beliefs. This is evidenced by the attitudes of both the company management and employees towards the organization. The unchanged policies, practices and products point towards a very strong corporate culture. High employee performance and productivity over the many years of the company’s existence is also another indicator of a strong culture.
The Lincoln Electric Employees' Association was formed in 1919 to provide hearth benefits and social activities.This organization continues today and has assumed several addittional functions over the years.
Established in 1895 and specialized in producing and selling electric motors, Lincoln Electric Company rapidly developed after the movement to welding equipment and consumable welding products in the USA. By 1995, this company first hit $1 billion in sales and became the world largest company in welding industry. With the differentiate strategy by providing premium -price -products , this company got 60% sales in the North American and expanded internationally since the period of 1986 and 1992. Although this company is facing problems in global expansions, its overall strategy as well as practices in human resources, marketing, technology development, and international expansions is a useful lesson for other businesses.
Headquartered in Cleveland Ohio, Lincoln electric’s business model consists of distributing welding consumables, equipment’s and solutions. Lincoln initially traded electric motor cars and steadily moved on to welding. Lincoln’s vision, led by founder John C. Lincoln is to provide high quality welding, joining and cutting equipment’s globally.
The founder, James F. Lincoln used his Christian upbringing as the basis for his vision of how he defined entrepreneurial success. The customers ' needs are first priority, the employee second, and the stockholders are last. Quality and cost efficiency are the two most important factors considered in their product engineering and manufacturing. The hierarchy is stringent, however, the culture of the company is greatly people-oriented. This company has a strong culture that is instilled in new employees from the beginning and continuously practiced by every member of every facet in the organizational structure.
With multi-million dollar, domestic updates and acquisitions in such countries as Italy, China, and Indonesia, Lincoln Electric Company wasted no time by dwelling on its first losses in Lincoln’s history. Lincoln is back on track as the world leader in arc welding, after faltering for only two years. Lincoln is committed to providing substantial value to all of its stakeholders.
Lincoln Electric Company is a manufacturing company, which has been focusing on welding products for the recent 30 years. The company had outstanding brothers leading the company to success. John was a technical genius and he brought the best skills in production and James was good at management and he was working on the employees ' incentives. The company gained its reputation through the world war till present as the welding equipment supplier with higher quality and lower price at the same time. For the production aspect of welding equipment, it is an advanced production line with continuous flow with high flexibility and low idling time.
The Lincoln Electric was founded in 1895, and is the world leader in the design,
“We are a global manufacturer and the market leader of the highest quality welding, cutting and joining products. Our enduring passion for the development and application of our technologies allows us to create complete solutions that make our customers more productive and successful. We will distinguish ourselves through an unwavering commitment to our employees and a relentless drive to maximize shareholder value” (http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/company/Pages/vision-statement.aspx). This is the vision of James Lincoln, founder of Lincoln Electric Company. I will look at this vision and apply it towards the
Elements of Lincoln Electric’s management system that made it so popular in the U.S. such as piece-rate work, bonuses, and
The Lincoln Electric Company 's culture is a wonderful example of how to create an exceptional culture within your business. Lincoln Electric has been a leading manufacturer in welding machines and electrodes for over 100 years. During this impressive tenure, the Lincoln Electric Company has adhered to its founders’ philosophy that the customer always comes first, the employee always comes second, and stockholders come third. This philosophy is upheld throughout the entire organization, from the executive team down to its factory line workers and is evident in their daily business culture. Displayed through a plethora of initiatives; including employee compensations, a concentration on productivity, encouragement of management and supervisors to participate in active leadership and a general appreciation for its employees ' input and feedback; the working culture in this organization is the backbone of the company’s continued achievements. Through the demonstration of their philosophy, Lincoln 's founders and management team have created a culture that has become a timeless model of employee productivity for the world.
This combination was the most secret weapon of success behind the advancement of all types of electro welding-Fleetweld 5p and other products were made with workers who were manufacturing these products were working in a very friendly environment within the company as the proprietors appreciated and complimented their efforts with various rewards, not practiced in other companies of similar standards.
Lincoln Electric focused on lowering costs in all aspects of the manufacturing process by designing the manufacturing plant to decrease the costs of moving materials throughout the facility and operating a flat management structure to lower supervisory costs (Dyer, Godfrey, Jensen, & Bryce, Page C-113). Lincoln also focused on customer service by hiring engineers to staff its sales force so they could use their engineering skills and knowledge to create new welding solutions for customers. In turn, this knowledge creates continuous product enhancements for Lincolns welding equipment (Dyer et al., C-113). Assembly workers also performed single task jobs, allowing them to improve their manufacturing skills and implement new techniques. This business model reduced slack and raised quality and lowered production costs (Dyer et al., C-113).
The overall impression, after reading the Case Study, is that Lincoln Electric has a strong culture. In our textbook, Carpenter, Taylor, and Erdogan (2010, p. 197) define a strong culture as “one that is shared by organizational members… a culture in which most employees in the organization share a consensus regarding the values of the company”. This can be considered the foundation of all the successive subcultures that exist within the company, and it starts at the very beginning with the founders. John C. Lincoln started the company on next-to-nothing after he had been let go from his former venture. Despite being started during an economic recession and suffering a fire after barely one year, John Lincoln moved the company to a new location and grew his workforce, which correlated to higher sales and profits. John’s brother, James F. Lincoln, joined the company and took over as General Manager/Vice President while the company was still in its early stages. The first indicator that the company took on a people-oriented culture is with the creation of the “Advisory Board”, which served as a means to advise Lincoln of operations –