Motivation

Lincoln Electric today is the worlds leading manufacturer of arc welding products, and also is one of the leading producers of electric motors, which was their very first product. John C. Lincoln is the founder of Lincoln Electric, which opened in 1895. He previously had been working for the Elliot-Lincoln Company who was a producer of Lincoln’s electric motors, but during the depression the company had lost so much he was forced to leave. Using the $200 he earned from redesigning an engine for Herbert Henry Dow, John opened his new business, with electric motors of his own design as the main product (Buller/Schuler, 2006).

During that first few years the company grew but had some setbacks, which include a fire in the first year of operation. In 1906 John incorporated his business and moved it from a fourth floor room in a factory he was in, to a newly constructed three-story factory. He then expanded his work force and the sales grew to over $50,000 a year (Buller/Schuler, 2006). In 1907, John’s brother James joined him as

a salesman and to help manage the company, as John preferred to be more involved in the inventing stage and less in the management of the products and company (www.lincolnelectric.com/corporate/about/history.asp).

Over the next few years the product line was expanded to include battery chargers for electric cars, and in 1909 the first welding set was produced. Then in 1911 the company introduced a variable voltage, single operator, portable welding machine, and the very first in the world (www.lincolnelectric.com/corporate/about/history.asp ). Jy (Buller/Schuler, 2006). We will talk more on the bonus plan later.

When World War II started, the company saw a dramatic change in demand for its welding products, ship hulls needed to be welded so this created a new market for the company and brought on expansion