Lincoln Electric to Construct Welding Consumables Facility in China

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (Cleveland, OH) (Nasdaq: LECO) has signed an agreement to construct a new, state-of-the-art welding consumables facility in Nanjing, China. The new facility, which will be part of Lincoln?s Asia Pacific subsidiary, Nanjing Lincoln Electric Co., Ltd., will be located in the newly-developed Jiangning Science Park, located in the Jiangning District of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Nanjing Lincoln Electric will expand its product range and business scope at the new site to address the growing needs of its customer base in China for higher productivity and more advanced welding processes and applications. The company currently has stick electrode manufacturing in Nanjing, and those operations will be moved and upgraded at the new site.

The new investment includes the development of approximately 68,000 square meters of land, with a multi-phase construction plan of over 30,000 square meters of manufacturing buildings. The plant will incorporate state-of-the-art manufacturing processes as well as welding demonstration and training facilities aligned with Lincoln Electric?s total solutions approach to the welding industry. Construction will start in July of this year, and completion is scheduled for July 2009, with additional production capacity phased in over that time frame.

Lincoln Electric acquired the Nanjing welding business in July 2007 from Kuang Tai Metal Industrial Co., Ltd. Previously, Lincoln was a minority owner of Nanjing indirectly through its investment in Kuang Tai.

www.lincolnelectric.com