The top 16 products in the third annual “Coolest Thing Made in Nebraska” contest include a beer making technique, a self-guided feed truck, a type of bullet, and a remote controlled surgical robot.

Public voting for the top 16 products will begin Wednesday, Sept. 11. Voting continues through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22 in a bracket-style, one-to-one competition.

Additional rounds of votes will follow, as favored products continue through the brackets.

Manufacturers, students and the public are invited to vote for their favorite product manufactured in Nebraska, each at nemanufacturingalliance.com. Descriptions of each product are available on the same website.

The contest, hosted by the NE Manufacturing Alliance and powered by the NE Chamber, celebrates the state’s manufacturing industry with Nebraska residents, students, educators, community leaders, manufacturers and especially, the more than 100,000 Nebraskans working in manufacturing every day, organizers say.

The Nebraska manufacturers and products in the top 16:

• Valley Center Pivot, Valley Irrigation – A Valmont Company, Valley
• Barrel Aged Lord of Ord, Scratchtown Brewing Company, Ord
• Toilet Paper, Outlook Nebraska, Omaha
• Autonomous Feed Truck, ALA Engineering, Scottsbluff
• 9mm Luger +P Critical Duty, Hornady, Grand Island
• Conti SilentSync, ContiTech, Lincoln
• Hand-Painted Wallpaper, Vahallan, Lincoln
• Convertible Checkout Counter, Lozier, Omaha
• Grandma’s Fruitcake, Beatrice Bakery Company, Beatrice
• Sugar, Western Sugar Cooperative, Scottsbluff
• Insulin Syringes, Embecta, Holdrege
• Automated Meat Processing System, Marble Technologies, Lincoln
• USB Charger, Lester Electrical, Lincoln
• Simply Sunflower Oil, Simply Sunflower, Ord
• BonnaVilla Modular Home, Chief Industries, Aurora
• MIRA – miniRAS, Virtual Incision, Lincoln

“The Coolest Thing Made in Nebraska competition is a great way to bring awareness to Nebraska’s diverse and abundant manufacturing sector,” said Mike Johnson, NE Chamber CEO and Executive Vice President of Manufacturing. “It’s so impressive to see all of the incredible things made right here in Nebraska.”

The tournament will again lead Nebraskans into the annual celebration of NE Manufacturing Month in October. The Coolest Thing will be announced Oct. 29 at the NE Chamber’s Manufacturing Summit in La Vista, where finalists will be invited to display their products.

Registration for the event will be available soon on the NE Chamber’s Event page.

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