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RALEIGH – The North Carolina Chamber has revealed the winners of 2023 ‘Coolest Thing Made in NC’ competition.

C.R. Onsrud’s Q-Series 5-Axis CNC Machine was the winner in the medium-to-large business category. Static Rope Edge Protectors (STREP) by Fjord Inc. earned the top award in the small business category.

Nucor – Hertford County was the runner-up in the medium-to-large business category for the steel plate the company manufactures at its Cofield plant.

The larger of the two categories is for businesses with 100 or more employees. The other is for companies employing less than 100 people.

The online contest began last month with 130 nominees. After three rounds of public voting totaling 45,116 votes, C.R. Onsrud and Fjord Inc. earned the top spots with 4,730 and 3,262 votes respectively.

There were 45,116 votes cast online throughout the entirety of the contest.

Now an annual tradition, the NC Chamber launched the competition in 2020 to honor North Carolina’s manufacturers and raise awareness about the rewarding careers in modern manufacturing. As the exclusive state affiliate for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the NC Chamber knows that a strong manufacturing sector is central to North Carolina’s economic and competitive success. The state’s innovative manufacturing industry is the largest workforce in the Southeast with approximately 475,000 North Carolinians employed by state manufacturers.

“We would like to thank our entire manufacturing community for developing important and lifesaving products for our state, country, and world. Our manufacturers are vital to both the health of our people and our economy,” said NC Chamber President and CEO Gary Salamido.