Lincoln Industries: Mastering Metal Challenges Globally
Lincoln Industries doesn’t fear corrosion, wear, aesthetics, heat or friction. Thanks to its best-in-class metal finishing and supply chain management expertise, it can provide customers with products and services that make those kinds of issues a thing of the past.
“We are a solution-based organization that places a lot of emphasis on innovation,” Communications Manager Kylie Ensrud says. “We have a lot of well-educated engineers. Whether working with current customers or seeking new customers, we can find a solution for their problems.”
Industry Leadership
Founded in 1952 as Lincoln Plating, Lincoln Industries has evolved from a small custom shop specializing in made-to-order solutions for consumers to an organization that serves the needs of regional businesses. It also moved from a sole focus on plating to the complete process of delivering finished metal components.
Today, the company is a large-scale manufacturer of finishing-intensive products. It serves a national customer base and continues to evolve along with an ever-changing industry. Its four locations – all in Lincoln, Neb. – include its main campus and offsite facilities focused on fabrication, assembly, polishing and plating work.
Having grown into a leading supplier of products requiring high-performance metal finishing, Lincoln Industries boasts the largest and most diverse privately held metal finishing operation in the United States. It employs more than 500 people, including more than 30 on-staff degreed engineers. The company is TS 16949, ISO 9001 and ISO14001 certified and engages in global strategic sourcing.
The company’s ultimate goal is to devise the best possible solutions for customers’ finishing requirements. It has established long-term relationships with some of the top companies in the world thank to its vast line of value-added products and services in high-performance metal finishing. Lincoln Industries’ capabilities allow the company to come up with customized solutions that meet customers’ needs.
Lincoln Industries has two divisions: Lincoln Chrome and Lincoln Performance Coatings. Among the services of the organization are metal finishing, polishing, fabrication and manufacturing, engineering and design support, supply management, assembly, packaging, warehousing and logistics management.
In addition, its integrated finishing services offer customers the chance to work with Lincoln Industries throughout a product’s entire lifecycle. This helps streamline supply chains, optimizing performance and efficiency.
“We have developed very effective supply chains for our customer’s tier I parts – including Harley Davidson and PACCAR,” Ensrud says. “We also do a lot of other motorsports parts, as well as gaming equipment. We perform best when presented with problems from our customers and work on creative, innovative solutions to assist them. Our business has evolved with our customers needs”
As for its performance coating division, Lincoln Industries has been working hard to expand its work in that area over the past few years. “Heat management is the focus in that division right now,” Ensrud says. “We can devise a performance coating solution to help with issues like corrosion or fatigue.”
Continued Evolution
Lincoln Industries has been investing in people and services as part of its strategic plan for success. On the people side, the company offers a great deal of training and personal development opportunities, as well as a nationally recognized wellness program. This has helped Lincoln Industries become a Fortune top-25 medium-sized company to work for.
“We need people to be happy and healthy so they love coming here and can increase productivity,” Ensrud says. “Our people are critical to our innovation efforts and helping us break into new markets.”
Lincoln Industries also recently developed ThermoSox, an advanced insulation system that utilizes Saprex technology and is designed for high-temperature applications. This is helping the company expand its solutions for heat management issues.
“We want to leverage and grow that part of the business, using performance coatings to get into new areas like the marine industry,” Ensrud says. “It is part of our effort to expand outside of our motorsports core and work with customers we haven’t worked with much or at all.”
Lincoln Industries knows that its traditional strength has been in providing metal finishing to core customers such as Harley-Davidson, Indian Motorcycles and PACCAR. Its business has been built through innovation and will be an even bigger part in the future as evident through the current construction of an innovation center that will be focused on developing new solutions.
The company believes opportunities exist to expand into adjacent markets and by seeking to be more innovative in areas like coating and heat management.
To ensure a prosperity, Lincoln Industries must properly determine the needs of its current and prospective customers. The company understands that it has created a solid core business that can serve as its foundation. Looking ahead, it must also seek to expand into new and emerging areas, just as it has always done.
“We need to be sure that we have right people who can work well with our customers and provide them with a single-source solution,” Ensrud concludes.