Robert 'Poncho' Allen

Roger L. Allen, known as Poncho, has operated multiple generations of forklift equipment during five decades with Lennox Industries Inc in Marshalltown.

The biggest equipment change is that "lifting heavy loads became a lot easier", Allen tells Forkliftaction.com News.

Initially, Allen on a forklift would pick up a load, put it on a wagon and push it. The transition to better technology occurred in the 1960s, he recalls.

The fuel to power forklifts at Lennox has changed from petrol to LPG to electric during his tenure, Allen notes.

Other improvements included the capability to move left or right-rather than only up and down-and the option to change the distance between the forks.

Lennox manufactures commercial and residential heating and cooling equipment. At one time, the product line focused on oil furnaces. "Those are gone now," he says. Publicly traded parent firm Lennox International Inc is based in Richardson, Texas.

Allen provided his driving services in the shears department where steel was cut, then worked in the assembly room and finally operated a Hyster forklift in the stock room moving raw materials.

Management lauded Allen for his punctual, efficient, detail-oriented services at an 11 September party on the plant floor. Allen joined Lennox in 1958, retired in August and no longer makes the 12-minute, 3.1 mile (5km) trip from his home to Lennox on each work day.

What is next for him and his wife, Linda? "I have a lot of work to do around the place," Allen observes.