Growth
Joining forces
How John Stropki welds together strategic plans that drive record growth at Lincoln Electric
By Kristy J. O’Hara
Smart Business Cleveland | October 2008
Page 1 of 4
As you walk through the glass entry doors at the world headquarters of Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc., you’ll see beautiful portraits of the company’s founders and past leaders, but you’ll also
read in large letters, “The actual is limited. The possible is
immense.”
It’s a pretty good saying, especially for a company so committed
to reaching results. In the last three years, Chairman, President
and CEO John M. Stropki has led his team through eight acquisitions and joint ventures while also training hundreds of employees
around the world in Six Sigma. In addition to those efforts, Stropki
and his team have increased training efforts in environmental,
health and safety areas, and they’ve strengthened communication
and employee development initiatives.
While Stropki and his team certainly accomplished a lot in the
last three years, their focus was just as the phrase on the wall suggests — limited. There are hundreds of initiatives or directions
that the welding parts manufacturer and reseller could pursue in
any given year. But to get a measurable improvement out of any of
them, Stropki says you need a plan — a short one.
It doesn’t sound like rocket science, but the company had struggled with larger strategic plans in the past.
“It was a very high-level plan, of which there was very little communication throughout the organization to all the people who really had to do all the heavy lifting to get the work done,” he says.
In order to be more effective, he and his team created a three-year strategic plan in 2004. The company would focus its efforts on
recruiting top talent, increasing customer service, improving operational efficiency, expanding globally and fostering innovation
from 2005 through 2007.
This plan proved successful. In 2004, Lincoln Electric had net
sales of $1.33 billion. By 2007, that number was $2.28 billion.
Diluted earnings per share in that same time period increased from
$2.06 to $4.67.
“We had great financial results,” Stropki says. “Some of that was
we had good wind at our back from the economic model — more
wind than we expected — and, secondly, we executed on certain
elements of the plan in ways that were more successful than we
thought they’d be.”
A $1 billion revenue increase in just three years is impressive, but
he didn’t bask in the glory of success. Instead, before the plan was
even finished, his team went hard to work creating a 2008 to 2010
strategic plan to take Lincoln Electric to the next level of success.
