President George Bush stopped by the Lincoln Electric headquarters and manufacturing plant in Cleveland, Ohio, in July to learn how the welding products manufacturer’s management practices led to it becoming Ohio’s Large Business Exporter of the Year for 2008.

“This is a site that proves, with good investment and good education, and a company that treats its workers well, that America can compete with anybody, anytime, anywhere,” Bush told 700 workers at the plant. “You’re good at making a product that people want. People want it here in the United States of America and when people are introduced to it around the world, they want it as well.”

Lincoln, which exports about 30 percent of the products it makes in Cleveland, gave out $86 million in bonuses to workers last year in that city alone, for an average individual award of $26,000.

The company also invests heavily in new product development, high-productivity equipment, training and process improvement—innovations President Bush witnessed first-hand during demonstrations of live robotic and submerged arc welding processes.

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