Robinson ranked No. 5 on industry Fab 40 list

Matthew Day

Staff

July 27, 2026

DE PERE – As Robinson celebrates its 50th anniversary, the company continues to receive industry recognition. 

The latest comes from “The Fabricator” magazine, which ranked Robinson among the top five on its annual Fab 40 list of North America’s leading fabricators.

“It’s a really nice recognition for the team that’s worked very, very hard to put us in a position where we can handle [significant] volume, built up our capacity, added the facilities and taken care of the customers at the level we have for a long time to be able to earn their trust,” Robinson President Sam Thomas said. 

Marketing Manager Lynn Jones said she, too, credits the recognition to “team effort.” 

“It’s not any one individual,” she said. “It’s a good win for the team.” 

Jones said Robinson has appeared on the Fab 40 each year since the list’s inception 16 years ago. 

After the company “hovered around the 10th spot for a few years,” she said this year’s No. 5 ranking is Robinson’s highest yet.

The latest recognition adds to what has been a milestone year for Robinson. 

Before earning a top-five spot on The Fabricator magazine’s Fab 40 list, the company was named Wisconsin’s Manufacturer of the Year in the large business category for the second time – which The Business News  covered in its March 9, 2026 issue. 

Thomas said the honors come during a period of growth for Robinson, with the company recently opening its first facility outside Wisconsin, in Altoona, Iowa, expanding its manufacturing footprint to nearly 1.4 million square feet across five facilities.

“We’re excited about [the Fab 40 ranking],” he said. “We think there are a lot greater things in our future, and it was really nice to have our team recognized for the work they’re doing.” 

Fab fundamentals 

According to thefabricator.com, the magazine’s annual ranking is initially based upon revenue numbers and company information willingly shared by American metal fabrication companies. 

Thomas said Robinson appreciates the magazine’s efforts to highlight the manufacturing and fabrication industry through its annual rankings and coverage.

Business owners who have provided testimonials to “The Fabricator” said recognition on the Fab 40 list is a significant achievement for contract and custom fabrication companies, helping increase visibility, enhance industry credibility and create new business opportunities.

For Robinson, Thomas said the platform also helps to bolster its efforts to be an employer of choice. 

“As we think about workforce development, the more attention we can give to that and show young people this is an industry that’s booming – that you can make a heck of a wage and make a heck of a living working in the trades, specifically fabrication, assembly, machining, electrical or any of them – I think is a really good thing,” he said. 

Having earned a ranking on the Fab 40 for 16 straight years, Thomas said Robinson is “pretty familiar with the group that’s on the top end of this thing.”  

“Really, really good companies,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for those companies that are on that list.” 

Of this year’s Fab 40, Robinson is one of seven Wisconsin fabricators, tying Illinois for the most-represented states on the list. 

Thomas said he attributes this representation largely to the Badger State’s work ethic. 

“Customers I’ve worked with from all over the country, they really view from about Milwaukee up to Green Bay as kind of the metal manufacturing mecca of the country, and I would agree with that,” he said. “We have a lot of infrastructure here, a lot of steel suppliers, service centers, a tremendous amount of machining, fabrication and assembly capacity in the State of Wisconsin.” 

Thomas said he is proud that Robinson and Amerequip of Kiel are among the companies representing Northeast Wisconsin on this year’s Fab 40 list.

“As we grow here, one of the things I’m really proud of is the economic impact we have on the overall area, and I think that’s one of the cooler things,” he said. 

Humility, focus, credit where it’s due 

As proud as he is of Robinson and its team, history and success, Thomas said he’s “pretty humble” when it comes to public recognition. 

“I’m kind of a head down, ‘let’s focus on what we can, control what we can, worry about what’s in our walls, make sure we’re doing right by our customers and our employees and our vendors’ [kind of guy],” he said. 

Thomas said Robinson’s recent recognitions reflect the foundation built by the company’s founders, brothers Maurie and Tom Robinson, along with former owners and current co-CEOs Darrell LaCrosse and Todd Robinson, who helped instill the values that continue to shape the company.

“It’s the way we take care of people [and] really embrace the team concept [that sets us apart],” he said. “We look at individuals and we consider their family environments, and we really want to make sure we put Robinson in a position where it’s a really nice and convenient place to work.” 

Thomas said the company’s other primary goal is to create value for its team and their families.

This goal, he said, informed Robinson’s transition to becoming employee-owned and offering an ESOP as of May 2023. 

Thomas said this transition has not only fueled the company’s growth and employee buy-in, but he also feels it may have helped Robinson stand out among the Fab 40 submissions. 

“Manufacturing is attractive from an ESOP standpoint,” he said, “but it’s not common by any means.” 

Jones said not only does Robinson take care of its team members – including via the internal workforce development facilitated by the Robinson Training Academy – but the company also considers its customers’ every need. 

“We’ve always leaned into what our customers are asking or are needing from us,” she said. 

Thomas said it’s tough to know to what degree “The Fabricator” is able to ascertain Robinson’s efforts on behalf of its customers, or how “we’ll jump through every burning hoop they put in front of us.” 

“I think that ownership mentality we had even before being an ESOP, and certainly have now, lends itself and separates us as a supplier and an employer,” he said. 

Outlook for Robinson, the industry 

Though Thomas said he “couldn’t be more optimistic for Robinson,” he acknowledges challenges loom for the company as well as fabrication more broadly. 

“Robinson will continue to be on the forefront of technology, robotics and automation and doing everything we can to provide the capacity our customers need out into the future,” he said, “but you know there are going to be some headwinds.” 

Among these, Thomas said, are the availability of labor and the adequacy of supply chains. 

“I think we’re experiencing some of those right now, but we’ve found a way to work through that strategically, and I think our team’s done an exceptional job actually with that,” he said. “That’s a big part of the reason for us being able to grow the way we are, and remove some of those challenges just by being smarter and being a little more strategic than others.” 

With a heavy focus on these challenges and its efforts to be an employer of choice, Jones and Thomas said their confidence in Robinson stems from their confidence in its people. 

For this reason, Thomas said as much as the company appreciates its accolades, it can only view them as a welcome byproduct – “the awards aren’t what drives us.” 

“I think if you do all the little things the right way, and you genuinely care about people and you take care of them, I think that stuff follows,” he said. “We’re certainly proud of [the Fab 40 ranking] – don’t get me wrong with that. But I think what drives us is just being really genuine to our team.” 

As big of a year as it’s been for Robinson, Thomas said “we’re not slowing down.” 

“We’re budgeted [for] more than a half-billion this year in revenue, and a billion is on our radar…,” he said. “This team deserves to be rewarded that way, as it relates to the backlog and growth our customers are willing to trust us with, so we’re ‘foot on the gas,’ and we’re excited.” 

For more information, head to robinsoninc.com.