One of Clevelands leading industrial manufacturers is Lincoln Electric. The company employs more than 2,700 workers in their nearby Mentor and Euclid facilities. For this assignment, I would like you to imagine that you are a member of Lincoln Electrics marketing department and are helping to plan a sales call to the Alcoa company plant in Cleveland Ohio. This Alcoa plant manufactures aluminum wheels for heavy duty, semi, 18- wheeler-type trucks under the trade name Arconic. Your sales team believes that they are just beginning to think about a new, highly-automated assembly line to replace older, less automated equipment. Lincoln Electric hopes to supply Alcoa with state-of-the-art robotic welding equipment for this new project.

Using information found on the Lincoln Electric company web site, pick one aspect of Alcoas total cost of ownership where you think Lincoln Electric offers a competitive advantage. Be specific.