2026 Champions for Quality Awards Winners.
The 8th annual Champions for Quality Awards feature public award nominations from manufacturers worldwide and insight-driven awards from the EASE plant floor platform. The awards highlight achievements throughout 2025, recognizing teams that delivered measurable results, adopted new tools and processes, and inspired others across their organizations.
Congratulations to our 2026 winners for your ongoing commitment to manufacturing quality!
Public nominated awards.
These categories celebrate individual achievements from the plant floor to the quality department, the organization, and the industry at large. Nominations were submitted by the public as well as by Ease.io customers and affiliates; winners were selected by Ease.io based on the nomination entry.
Leadership
Executives who are strong advocates/sponsors for department-wide quality, safety, and operations programs at the senior stakeholder level.
Winner
Kevin Keane – ARTIFEX
Liverpool, UK
Honorable Mention
Kitso Kubheka – ElringKlinger
Alberton, South Africa
Ambassador
Professionals who have dedicated their careers to the industry and to fostering a long-term culture of quality at their manufacturing plant(s).
Winner
Chen Qiang – STABILUS
Jiaxing, China
Honorable Mention
Daniel Girardot – Magna Cosma Vehtek Systems
Bowling Green, Ohio
Trailblazer
Users of the EASE platform not just for layered process audits (LPAs), but for other programs including safety audits, 5S, root cause analysis, and more.
Winner
Demario Mercer – Millennium Print Group, A subsidiary of The Pokémon Company International
Morrisville, North Carolina
Honorable Mention
Nayan Sagitra – DANA
Karnataka, India
Influencer
Momentum builders who generate excitement, interest, and buy-in for quality initiatives among their peers.
Winner
Robert Hamilton – JTEKT Automotive
Morristown, Tennessee
Honorable Mention
Brandon Manning – Freudenberg-NOK
Cleveland, Georgia
Promising Newcomer
Early-career individuals (five years or less in the manufacturing industry) demonstrating standout potential to rise into a leadership role in quality.
Winner
Vismay Chand – DANA
Karnataka, India
Honorable Mention
Andrew Riley – Magna Exteriors
Du Quoin, Illinois
Awards based on EASE data.
In addition to the nominated categories, the Champions for Quality Awards program includes four categories that recognize achievements based on EASE usage metrics and benchmarks.
Plant of the Year
Plants were evaluated on a combination of weighted audit insights including the percentage of on-time completed plant floor audits and on-time completed findings.
Winner
DANA
Zaragoza, Spain
Honorable Mention
Allison Off-Highway Drive & Motion Systems
Yancheng, China
Auditor of the Year
Users were assessed based on audit completion rate, total number of audits completed, and audit findings, with the majority of their audits being focused on quality like LPAs.
Winner
Bruce Chubb — Mold-Rite Plastics
Plattsburg, New York
Honorable Mention
Francis Neri — Mold-Rite Plastics
Plattsburg, New York
Best Implementation
Teams were chosen based on their engagement during the implementation of EASE from pilot to final deployment, their advocacy throughout the process, and audit activity and completion rates in the weeks and months following their go-live date.
Winner
Blanc & Fisher Cerkno
Slovenia
Honorable Mention
NIFCO
Lavergne, Tennessee
Canal Winchester, Ohio
Shelbyville, Kentucky
Chihuahua, Mexico
Irapuato, Mexico
Quality Transformation
Teams were evaluated based on significant improvement in performance within the EASE platform over a 12-month period, including the highest percentage increase in on-time audits and mitigations.
Winner
Great Dane
Danville, Pennsylvania
Honorable Mention
INTEVA PRODUCTS
Opole, Poland
