Manufacturer of the Year Conference
Celebrating manufacturers committed to continuous improvement
Congratulations to this Year’s Winners!
2026 Emerging CI Leader
Justin Adams
The purpose of the Emerging CI Leader award is to recognize an individual committed to implementing continuous improvement within their company and sharing best practices with fellow manufacturers in the community.
MANUFACTURER OF THE YEAR
Conference Schedule
7:30 AM: Registration & Breakfast
8:30 AM: Keynote
9:15 AM: Awards Ceremony
10:00 AM: Break
10:30 AM: Breakout Sessions
11:30 AM: Event Concludes
Tim Keran – Keynote Presenter
Getting Lean Out of the Toolbox and Into Your Culture
Lean tools can improve a process, but tools alone cannot create a culture of continuous improvement. In this keynote, Tim Keran shares how his company moved Lean out of the toolbox and made getting better part of everyone’s job—resulting in nearly 4,000 employee-led improvements, a 67% reduction in rework costs, and employee turnover falling from 18% to 6%. Attendees will learn how to involve everyone, connect everyday improvements to company performance and build a fun, rewarding, and winning work culture.
About Tim:
Tim Keran is a business improvement coach, former manufacturing CEO and owner, and peer group facilitator who helps CEOs build fun, rewarding, high-performing cultures. His upcoming newsletter, Self-Made CEO, is a practical field guide for leaders building better businesses.
PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS WITH AI
Kacinda Ruiz – Breakout Speaker
Discover how Trystar is leveraging Artificial Intelligence to accelerate continuous improvement efforts and unlock new efficiencies across the business.
In this breakout session, you will learn about practical AI applications for:
- Pareto analysis
- Defect data summarization
- Process mapping
- Work instruction creation
- Training documentation
- Standardized documentation
- Operational workflows
- Value creation
About Kacinda:
Kacinda Ruiz is an operational excellence leader with more than 20 years of experience driving continuous improvement, culture transformation, and business performance across manufacturing, sales, service, and corporate environments. As Senior Manager of Continuous Improvement for Operations at Trystar, she partners with teams to build problem-solving capabilities, strengthen leadership, and deliver exceptional customer experiences through implementation of the Trystar Excellence System.
5S SUCCESS WITH AI
Jeff Weber – Breakout Speaker
Many organizations successfully launch 5S initiatives but struggle to sustain and scale them over time. In this session, Jeff Weber of Graco will share the company’s 5S journey, the lessons learned while building a culture of workplace organization and continuous improvement. In this breakout session, you will learn about:
- How AI is helping standardize and accelerate adoption across sites
- Hear practical examples and case studies,
- Learn how AI can support consistent execution, and strengthen accountability
About Jeff:
Jeff Weber is Director of Quality & Continuous Improvement at Graco Inc., where he leads initiatives focused on operational excellence, quality systems, leadership development, and digital transformation. Throughout his career, he has led manufacturing operations, cross-functional teams across Operations, Customer Service, and Distribution, and enterprise-wide transformation efforts. Jeff is passionate about developing leaders, creating process-driven organizations, making fact-based decisions, and empowering teams to achieve incremental improvements every day.
KAIZEN EVENTS WITH AI
Eugene Arrington – Breakout Speaker
Platinum Sponsors
Gold Sponsors
REGISTRATION IS OPEN