Lincoln Electric Company of Cleveland, Ohio, is a world leader in welding and cutting products and a manufacturer of industrial electric motors. The company, which has been in business almost 100 years, has about 3200 employees in the United States and annual sales of about $846 million.
Lincoln Electric Company's research efforts had been hampered because it could not purchase small quantities of specialized steels to evaluate for possible welding applications. The smallest samples available for order from commercial steel mills were too large and expensive for the company.
Through a professional association with Stan David, a welding expert in ORNL's Metals and Ceramics (M&C) Division, a Lincoln Electric official visited Oak Ridge. During a tour, he learned about the nonconsumable arc melting facility and rolling capabilities in M&C. With assistance from the Oak Ridge Centers for Manufacturing Technology and the Defense Programs National Machine Tool Partnership, the company was provided access to ORNL's facilities operated by M&C's Materials Processing Group led by Vinod Sikka.
The steels were melted by Joseph Vought and rolled into ten appropriately sized sheets by Ken Blakely and Ed Hatfield. All are engineering technologists in Sikka's group.
In a June 1, 1994, letter to Stephen Laggis of ORCMT, John Gonzalez, vice chairman of Lincoln Electric, wrote, "Your vacuum melting facility and rolling capabilities...offer us the experimental tool we have sought for years. Your facility has solved a problem that has plagued us for years relative to the production (of) and experimentation on special steels. The knowledge and cooperation of your people have been outstanding."
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