Kansas City, MO—Lonnie Robinson was named vice president manufacturing at Tension Corp in Kansas City, MO, effective Oct. 1, 2021. The announcement was made jointly by Bill Berkley, president and CEO and Bob Broadbear, COO. Broadbear had served as COO and VP manufacturing and Robinson will now report to him. Tension’s production managers will have a dotted line responsibility reporting relationship to Robinson, who will work with them on safety, quality, productivity and LEAN initiatives. Additionally, Robinson will take charge of Tension’s training department.
The duo stated, “This is a well-deserved promotion for Lonnie and something that he has been working toward in his 41+ years at Tension… He has been an invaluable resource for Tension’s selling and manufacturing organizations for many years and we are grateful for his contributions… Lonnie has had a strong and diverse career. He started as a pressman trainee in 1979, then in 1990 became composing lead and seven years later was promoted to technical assistant.” The two credited Robinson with helping to transform prepress operations from analog to digital. “He rolled out ink dispensers to all facilities, and he converted our plate making systems from solvent to thermal transfer.”
Robinson, a past FTA Board chair and longtime FTA Excellence in Flexography Awards Committee chair, is a member of FTA’s most prestigious society—its Hall of Fame—having been inducted in 2018.
Since 2012, Robinson had served as Tension Corp’s director of research and development. In that assignment, he was charged with overseeing the engineering group and environmental health and safety teams. He was involved in materials testing, machine moves, and plant and infrastructure upgrades. More recently, Berkley and Broadbear indicated, “Lonnie has been a key leader in our fight against COVID.”
He represents Tension Corp in a variety of envelope industry organizations: FTA, the Envelope Manufacturers Association (EMA)—where he chairs the Postal Affairs Committee—and also serves as EMA’s representative to the Postmaster General’s Mailers Technical Advisory Committee.
On a personal note, Berkley and Broadbear said, “Lonnie met his wife Becky at Tension and they recently celebrated their 20th anniversary. Lifelong Kansas City residents, they enjoy traveling, spending time with family and friends, and hanging out with their dog, Chorizo.”