ALBION, Ill. – Champion Laboratories announced this week it has been listed at No. 11 in Quality magazine’s 2010 “Leadership 100” list. The list honors companies that have encouraged their employees to take an active role in ensuring quality, while also using and integrating employee ideas and opinions in the production process. 
“We’ve made some significant improvements in our quality-control system over the last few years and every one of those improvements has been the result of a committed joint effort from all of us here at Champ Labs,” said John Gaither, vice president of engineering and quality. “We’re pretty proud to be recognized for all of the strides our team has made over the last few years.”
Quality magazine chose the honorees after surveying more than 800 manufacturers on criteria such as scrap and rework as a percentage of sales, warranty costs as a percentage of sales, rejected parts per million shipped and contribution of quality to profitability and shareholder value. Companies were also evaluated based on the number of quality programs in place; registration to various standards; percentage of employees dedicated to quality responsibilities; average number of hours monthly that employees receive quality training; and the role that quality professionals play in the acquisition of test, measurement and inspection tools, software and services.
This is the first year that Champion Laboratories has been included on Quality’s Leadership 100, and it was the only company from the filter industry listed. Toyota ranked second on the list, and other aftermarket manufacturers such as Lear, TRW, Borgwarner and Exide also were included among the top 100.
