What changed in this filing

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Item 1. Business

2026-02-25 compared with 2025-02-26 · 31 added, 33 removed, 72 unchanged (47% of the section changed)

1 unchanged sentence

and its wholly-owned and majority-owned subsidiaries for which it has a controlling interest.

The Lincoln Electric Company began operations in 1895 and was incorporated under the laws of the State of Ohio in 1906.

During 1998, The Lincoln Electric Company reorganized into a holding company structure, and Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc.

became the publicly-held parent of Lincoln Electric subsidiaries worldwide, including The Lincoln Electric Company.

The Company is the world leader in the design, development and manufacture of arc welding solutions, automated joining, assembly and cutting systems, plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment, and has a leading global position in brazing and soldering alloys.

The Company’s products include arc welding, brazing and soldering filler metals (consumables), arc welding equipment, plasma and oxyfuel cutting systems, wire feeding systems, fume control equipment, welding accessories, specialty gas regulators, and education solutions;

as well as a comprehensive portfolio of automated solutions for joining, cutting, material handling, module assembly, and end of line testing.

The arc welding power sources and wire feeding systems manufactured by the Company range in technology from basic units used for light manufacturing and maintenance to highly sophisticated robotic applications for high volume production welding and fabrication.

Three primary types of arc welding consumables are produced:

(1) coated manual or stick electrodes;

(2) solid wire produced in coil, reel or drum forms for continuous feeding in mechanized welding;

and (3) cored wire produced in coil form for continuous feeding in mechanized welding.

The Company has, through wholly-owned subsidiaries, manufacturing facilities located in the United States, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, South Korea, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

Founded in 1895 and incorporated in the state of Ohio in 1906 as The Lincoln Electric Company, the Company reorganized into a holding company structure as Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc.

The Company is a high-performance industrial machinery and technology leader who helps customers manufacture and maintain vital equipment and infrastructure.

The Company’s innovative solutions enable higher quality and productivity across a variety of processes including welding, cutting, brazing, machining, process automation, and field repair.

The Company’s products include arc welding equipment, filler metals (welding, brazing and soldering consumables), cutting systems (laser, plasma and oxyfuel), wire feeding systems, fume control equipment, welding accessories, specialty gas regulators, mobile power equipment, wear solutions, software, and education solutions;

as well as a comprehensive portfolio of automated solutions and system integration services for joining, cutting, material handling, module assembly, and end of line testing.

Services include additive manufacturing, precision fabrication, wear services, upfitting, and training.

Solutions range in technology and features from basic units used for personal, maintenance and light manufacturing use to highly sophisticated robotic solutions for complex fabrication and production activities.

Manufacturing Footprint

The Company has, through wholly owned subsidiaries, manufacturing and automation facilities in 20 countries located in the United States, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, South Korea, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

Reportable Segments

The Company’s business units are aligned into three operating segments.

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The Americas Welding segment includes welding operations in North and South America.

The International Welding segment includes welding operations in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

The Harris Products Group includes the Company’s global cutting, soldering and brazing businesses, specialty gas equipment, as well as the retail business in the United States.

The International Welding segment includes welding operations in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia.

The Harris Products Group includes the Company’s global cutting, soldering and brazing businesses, specialty gas equipment, as well as the retail business which is primarily in the United States.

The Company’s products are sold in both domestic and international markets.

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● automotive and transportation, and

● construction and infrastructure.

● structural (non-residential construction and infrastructure).

The Company is not dependent on a single customer or a few customers and no individual customer currently accounts for more than ten percent of total Net sales.

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Risk Factors" for further discussion regarding risks associated with customers, general economic conditions and demand.

Conditions in the arc welding and cutting industry are highly competitive.

The Company believes it is the world’s largest manufacturer of consumables and equipment with relatively few major broad-line competitors worldwide, but numerous smaller competitors in specific geographic markets.

The Company continues to pursue strategies to heighten its competitiveness in domestic and international markets, which includes positioning low cost manufacturing facilities in most geographical markets.

Competition in the arc welding and cutting industry is based on brand preference, product quality, price, performance, warranty, delivery, service and technical support.

The Company believes its performance against these factors has contributed to the Company’s position as the leader in the industry.

Most of the Company’s products may be classified as standard commercial articles and are manufactured for stock.

The Company believes it has a competitive advantage in the marketplace because of its highly trained technical sales force and the support of its welding research and development staff to assist customers in optimizing their welding applications.

This allows the Company to introduce its products to new users and to establish and maintain close relationships with its customers.

This close relationship between the technical sales force and the direct customers, together with its supportive relationship with its distributors, who are particularly interested in handling the broad range of the Company’s products, is an important element of the Company’s market success and a valuable asset of the Company.

Commercial conditions in the arc welding, cutting and automation/system integration industries are highly competitive due to the fragmented profile of the regional markets.

The Company believes it is the world’s largest manufacturer of arc welding solutions and has relatively few global broad-line competitors worldwide, but numerous smaller competitors in specific geographic markets.

The Company extends its competitiveness in domestic and international markets through high quality, differentiated solutions and services, and has established manufacturing facilities in most geographical markets to cost effectively serve regional demand.

Competition in the arc welding and cutting industry is based on brand preference, product quality, price, performance, warranty, delivery, service, commercial programs, and technical support.

The Company believes its performance against these factors has contributed to the Company’s position as the leader in the arc welding industry and leader in automation, cutting, mobile and power solutions.

Most of the Company’s consumables and equipment products are classified as standard commercial articles and are manufactured for stock;

whereas automation solutions are primarily custom or build-to-print systems.

The Company believes it has a competitive advantage in the marketplace because of its highly trained engineers, technical sales force and the innovative solutions engineered by its welding research and development staff to assist customers in optimizing their fabrication operations.

This allows the Company to introduce its solutions to new users and establish and maintain close relationships with its customers.

This close relationship between the technical sales force and direct customers, as well as with distributors, who are particularly interested in handling the broad range of the Company’s products, is an important element of the Company’s market success and a valuable asset of the Company.

Raw Materials

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To date, compliance with these environmental regulations has not had a material adverse effect on the Company’s earnings.

The Company is ISO 14001 certified at

most significant manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe and is progressing towards certification at its remaining facilities worldwide.

The Company is ISO 14001 certified at most significant manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe and is progressing towards certification at its remaining facilities worldwide.

In addition, the Company is ISO 9001 certified at 49 facilities worldwide.

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The Company’s programs include formal leadership, management and professional development programs, tuition reimbursement for external accredited programs, comprehensive employee safety and compliance training, early career and internship programs, mentoring, self-guided online courses, instructor-led programs and special project and rotational assignments that can lead to extensive global exposure.

Global Diversity and Culture

The Company has a globally diverse workforce with many cultures, subcultures, religions, lifestyles, and languages.

Global Workforce and Culture

The Company has a global workforce with many cultures, subcultures, religions, lifestyles, and languages.

The Company has a longstanding commitment to equal opportunity in all aspects of employment—including employee compensation, job placement and promotion regardless of gender, race or other personal characteristics.

The Company’s culture is underpinned by its core values, including the guiding principle championed by James F.

Lincoln when they founded Lincoln Electric 130 years ago – The Golden Rule:

The Company’s culture is underpinned by its core values, including the guiding principle championed by its founders over 130 years ago – The Golden Rule:

Treat Others How You Would Like to Be Treated.

The Company focuses on recruiting and developing diverse talent and reviews and updates its human resources processes and benchmarks roles and compensation externally on a regular basis to help prevent bias and promote an engaged, industry-leading workplace.

The Company focuses on recruiting and

developing talent and reviews and updates its human resources processes and benchmarks roles and compensation externally on a regular basis to help prevent bias and promote an engaged, industry-leading workplace.

The Company’s compensation program is designed to attract and retain exceptional employees and to maintain a strong pay for performance culture.

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The Company’s annual talent and succession planning process reviews 100% of its global professional staff worldwide to support the development of a talent pipeline for critical roles in general management, engineering and operations.

This evaluation is utilized by the Company’s CEO, as well as segment business and functional executives, to identify high potential and diverse talent for further development to establish strong succession plans for the Company’s most critical roles.

This evaluation is utilized by the Company’s CEO, as well as segment business and functional executives, to identify high potential talent for further development to establish strong succession plans for the Company’s most critical roles.

The Company believes that the practices outlined above result in sustained increases in shareholder value and reflect its compensation philosophy of aligning long-term pay and performance.

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The Company is an active member in the communities in which it operates and where its employees live.

The Company participates in community meetings, local business associations, offers plant visits, provides grants to nonprofit organizations and donates resources and time through in-kind gifts, employee volunteerism and non-profit board service.

The Company’s partnership with academia includes executive-led lectures and donations of equipment and engineering expertise to support lab and research initiatives.

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Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.

What changed 10-K

Item 1. Business