LECO Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc

George Blankenship Named Vice President of Cleveland Operations at Lincoln Electric CLEVELAND, June 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Lincoln Electric Company, a subsidiary of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO), has elected George D. Blankenship as Vice President, Cleveland Operations. This is in addition to his position as Vice President, Global Engineering, for the Company's worldwide business. With this new responsibility, Mr. Blankenship will manage all of Lincoln's Cleveland-based manufacturing operations, which include its Machine and Consumables divisions, and also will continue to manage the Company's global engineering and research and development (R&D) programs. Previously, Mr. Blankenship was Vice President of Engineering and Quality Assurance for The Lincoln Electric Company. He will retain responsibility for those functions and the David C. Lincoln Technology Center in his new position. "George has successfully managed our strategic initiative to consolidate and enhance our product development capability, facilities maintenance and quality assurance," said John M. Stropki, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "He has insightful understanding of our products, manufacturing processes, business structure and our culture -- all of which are critical to ensure our competitiveness in a global marketplace. Under his leadership, our research and product development programs established a world-class benchmark in the welding industry." Mr. Blankenship joined Lincoln in 1985 as an engineering trainee. He has held engineering and product development management positions of increasing responsibility and has served as the Company's Chief R&D Engineer, responsible for Lincoln's Machine Division R&D and development of equipment and process applications and technology. Mr. Blankenship earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from The Ohio State University and presently holds several key patents in the field of welding. Lincoln Electric is the world leader in the design, development and manufacture of arc welding products, robotic arc-welding systems, plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Lincoln has operations, manufacturing alliances and joint ventures in 18 countries and a worldwide network of distributors and sales offices covering more than 160 countries. Lincoln Electric is celebrating its 110th anniversary this year. For more information about Lincoln Electric, its products and services, visit the Company's Web site at http://www.lincolnelectric.com/ . DATASOURCE: Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. CONTACT: Roy L. Morrow of Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc., +1-216-383-4893, or Web site: http://www.lincolnelectric.com/

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