When Julio Martinez needs equipment, consumables and curriculum to teach welding at Polaris Career Center in Middleburg Heights, Ohio, he calls on a resource just across town: Lincoln Electric, whose recently re-launched education portal provides a wealth of resources at affordable education-only pricing.

A veteran welding instructor, Martinez is a CWI and CWE who is also certified in virtually every type of welding. Since taking the teaching position at Polaris in 2016, he’s been accessing equipment and training materials entirely through the Lincoln Electric education portal, his one-stop source for what he needs to teach a range of welding processes – MIG, TIG, flux core, pipe, oxyfuel cutting and more – to students at the high school and adult levels.

It’s important to be able to afford the best possible materials for teaching purposes, says Martinez, “because that’s what students are going to see in the field when they finish their training and start working. Obviously, Lincoln Electric is one of the world leaders, and they’re going to come across Lincoln products sooner rather than later. And having them run the better stuff gives them a better opportunity to put that on a better weld and be successful.”

In addition to attractive pricing, the newly designed education portal also offers 24/7 accessibility, easy user interface and fast shipping. (He consistently takes advantage of the portal’s $500 free-shipping threshold.)

“I have a lot on my plate with my students and classes during business hours, and sometimes I’ll forget to order something, but I can place an order at six o’clock in the morning or six o’clock in the evening,” he says.”

Although he’d been a longtime customer of the original portal, the transition to the new platform was easy. “It took my information right away,” he says, “and it was a little easier to navigate than it had been before. And the shipping turnaround is great. I can order something in the morning today, and sometimes it will arrive as early as tomorrow.”

Martinez not only recommends the Lincoln Electric education portal to other schools, training centers and educators, he even invites them to get in touch with him for guidance. “Contact me,” he says. “I’ll walk you through it. Every school should be using it. It doesn’t make sense not to.”