A word of caution about the Manufacturing Leadership Council's plant tours: Attending one could make you rethink your manufacturing operations. Inspiration abounds: The MLC, the digital transformation arm of the NAM, recently hosted a plant tour of Lincoln Electric's headquarters in Cleveland. Inspired by the innovation on display, one attendee vowed "to go back to my own company and start asking what's stopping us from implementing similar technologies and practices." What is Lincoln Electric? Lincoln Electric was founded in 1895 as an electric-motors manufacturer. Today it is a global industry leader in welding equipment and consumables, additive manufacturing and automation solutions. The company has locations in 19 countries and serves customers in more than 160.