Ease.io Unveils 2026 Champions for Quality, Honoring Standout Manufacturing Leaders

IRVINE, Calif., April 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Ease.io, a global provider of AI-powered audit and inspection software for manufacturers, today announced the winners of its eighth annual Champions for Quality Awards.

The Champions for Quality Awards recognize professionals, teams, and organizations that are driving meaningful improvements in manufacturing quality and elevating the role of quality leadership during a period of rapid technological advancement and transformative innovation. This year's awards highlight achievements throughout 2025, recognizing teams that delivered measurable results, adopted new tools and processes, and inspired others across their organizations. Ease.io is honored to see an incredible breadth of submissions from around the world, with this year's winners reflecting a truly global community of quality leaders driving impact across industries.

"The Champions for Quality Awards recognize the commitment and innovation of the professionals who are strengthening quality throughout their organization," said Adam Wegel, CEO of Ease.io. "I'm incredibly impressed by the results this year's honorees have achieved. They represent a global community spanning industries from automotive to consumer goods. Their leadership in building and sustaining strong cultures of quality plays a critical role in advancing manufacturing performance worldwide."

As part of the awards program, Ease.io is also supporting the next generation of industry talent through a donation to the SAE Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides STEM education initiatives and scholarships for students from pre-kindergarten through high school.

"We're honored to be recognized again by Ease.io through its Champions for Quality Awards," said Jamie Ferguson, Executive Director of the SAE Foundation. "Their continued support helps us broaden hands-on STEM learning experiences for students and strengthen the pathway of tech-ready talent our industry needs."

Public Nominated Awards

These categories celebrate individual achievements from the plant floor to the quality department, the organization, and the industry at large. Nominations weresubmitted by the public as well as by Ease.io customers and affiliates; winners were selected by Ease.io based on the nomination entry. The categories and winners are:

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. The categories and winners are:

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)
– NIFCO (Canal Winchester, Ohio)
– NIFCO (Shelbyville, Kentucky)
– NIFCO (Chihuahua, Mexico)
– NIFCO (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)

The Ease.io team warmly congratulates all the winners and commends its customers for their unwavering commitment and pursuit of excellence.

About Ease

Ease.io's cloud-based SaaS solution for manufacturers, EASE, digitally connects and automates critical plant floor work processes, including audits, inspections, scheduling, task assignments, data collection, and more. Dana, Tenneco, Eaton, and other leading manufacturers in 40+ countries use EASE to drive quality, safety, productivity, and compliance. Founded in 1986, Ease.io is headquartered in Irvine, California. For more information, please visit ease.io.

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