The Nebraska Manufacturing Alliance and Nebraska Chamber have announced the 16 products that will vie for the 2024 “Coolest Thing Made in Nebraska” contest, and it includes two products from Scottsbluff.
An Autonomous Feed Truck produced by ALA Engineering and Granulated Sugar produced by the Western Sugar factory made the cut for this year’s competition.
Public voting in the bracket-style competition will be held Wednesday, September 11, through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, September 22, with advanced rounds to follow.
Manufacturers, students and all Nebraskans are invited to vote for their favorite product manufactured in Nebraska each week through the beginning of October at nemanufacturingalliance.com.
The full list of 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 contest, hosted by the NE Manufacturing Alliance and powered by the NE Chamber, celebrates the state’s thriving manufacturing industry with Nebraska residents, students, educators, community leaders, manufacturers and especially, the more than 100,000 Nebraskans working in manufacturing every day.
“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 Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Manufacturing. “It’s so impressive to see all of the incredible things made right here in Nebraska, and we’re thrilled to be sharing the third year of this competition with all Nebraskans.”
The tournament will once again lead Nebraskans into the annual celebration of NE Manufacturing Month this October. The Coolest Thing will be announced October 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.
