LEXINGTON, KY – The Kentucky Association of Manufacturers (KAM) announced the winners of its 2026 Manufacturers of the Year Awards Presented by Brown-Forman Corporation; 2026 Manufacturing Employee of the Year Award Presented by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System; and 2026 KAM Manufacturing Executive Leadership Award at its annual Kentucky Industry Conference Awards Dinner this evening in Lexington.
The winners of the 2026 Manufacturer of the Year Awards Presented by Brown-Forman Corporation are: 2026 Small Manufacturer Award: Greenfield Global, Shelbyville, Kentucky
Greenfield Global has more than 35 years of experience in high-purity alcohol, specialty ingredients, and renewable energy, with operations across North America and Europe and products reaching customers in more than 50 countries. Greenfield Shelbyville is not simply adapting to change; the team is helping create it. Through strategic investment, continuous improvement, and a commitment to its people, the facility has shown what a small manufacturer can accomplish when employees are given the tools and opportunity to improve the business.
2026 Mid-Size Manufacturer Award: Bullard, Cynthiana, Kentucky
Founded in 1898, Bullard is a fifth-generation family-owned business delivering innovation that inspires safety across the globe. The company employs more than 300 people worldwide, including 225 in Kentucky. The Hard Boiled® hard hat inspired the company’s first fire helmet, and in the 1930s Bullard designed the first supplied-air respirator system to help protect steelworkers sandblasting the Golden Gate Bridge. In 1938, the company designed and manufactured the first aluminum hard hat and later became one of the first manufacturers to injection-mold thermoplastic hard hats.
2026 Large Manufacturer Award: GE Appliances, Louisville, Kentucky
GE Appliances is America’s #1 appliance company, producing high-quality home appliances since 1907 that are now found in over half of American homes. In 1953, GE Appliances shipped its first appliance from its global headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky – a manufacturing site so large, it has its own zip code. For more than 70 years, Louisville has been the company’s largest manufacturing site, research and development center, and innovation hub, shaping how American families live, and making GE Appliances a Kentucky icon.
The 2026 Manufacturing Employee of the Year Award presented by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System winner is Keith Trumph, Human Resources Manager, of Troy Design & Manufacturing Co., Shelbyville, Kentucky.
Keith helped launch a new facility for Troy Design & Manufacturing (TDM) in Shelbyville from the ground up, implementing a new site brand, new hiring methods, and pioneering a new company culture. He was responsible for spearheading TDM’s Reward and Recognition (R&R) program, including creating recognition criteria, identifying an enterprise R&R system, system configuration, policy/procedure development, and corporate-wide implementation. His efforts resulted in the successful launch of a web-based platform that the whole company utilizes to encourage, recognize, and reward one another.
The KAM 2026 Manufacturing Executive Leadership Award winner is Logan Baker of Impact LED, Shelbyville, Kentucky.
Logan Baker founded Impact LED Signs in 2016. Logan has created Kentucky jobs, developed people from entry-level opportunities to long-term careers, and built patented technology. He has expanded a Kentucky manufacturer to its now national presence, invested in young people and his community, and built a company that continues to grow without abandoning the values on which it was founded. Impact LED Signs exists because Logan had the vision to create it and the leadership acumen to bring people with him.
2026 Industry Awards Dinner
This year’s Awards Dinner was held at the 2026 Kentucky Industry Conference, a three-day conference co-hosted by KAM, the Metals Innovation Initiative, and the Kentucky Manufacturing Extension Partnership. University of Kentucky Women’s Basketball Head Coach Kenny Brooks delivered the keynote address at the Awards Dinner.
“For over a quarter century, we have been celebrating the leaders, entrepreneurs, and companies that have meant so much to Kentucky communities and families at our annual awards dinners,” said KAM President and CEO Frank Jemley. “Thanks to the continuing support of Brown-Forman Corporation and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, we recognize again this year three outstanding Kentucky companies – Greenfield Global, Bullard, and GE Appliances – and individual award winners Logan Baker and Keith Trumph, for their exceptional success and impacts and their individual efforts. Kentucky is better off because of the work of these companies, their leaders, and their teammates.”
About the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers Manufacturing Awards
KAM’s manufacturing awards focus attention on the important contributions manufacturers and industry make to their employees, customers, and communities, and the impacts of exceptional manufacturing employees and executives on their companies and communities. These awards showcase the entrepreneurial spirit, community and enterprise leadership, and good citizenship of Kentucky’s top manufacturers and employees which enhance the prosperity of communities across the Commonwealth.
About the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers
The Kentucky Association of Manufacturers (KAM) is Kentucky’s leading industry and business organization. Our mission is to make a better Kentucky by promoting and growing manufacturing in the Commonwealth. We are the voice for economic growth and opportunity in Kentucky. Learn more at KAM.us.com.