Allen was raised on a 700 cow dairy farm in Ravenna, Michigan. In his early 20s his family made the decision to get out of farming and he went into manufacturing management for 12 year working with companies like Steelcase, La-Z-Boy, and Herman Miller. In 2006 he began working for AIS Construction Equipment as an Agriculture Material Handling Specialist in Central Michigan working primarily with dairy farms. . His training includes Lean Manufacturing from his days in manufacturing, which gives him a different approach to what is happening on the farm. In 2016 he founded Farming Lean as a way to share Lean principles. He has also published several articles on dairy management in national publications.