Here’s the first wave of CMA finalists

The Colorado Manufacturing Awards reach a milestone in 2020 — five years of celebrating companies and people reimagining manufacturing in this most unlikely industrial outpost.

Surprising or not, Colorado’s sector is today a national model of diversity and innovation, and the 40+ companies and people selected from a record number of nominations represent the best-ever CMA finalist class.

Here’s the first wave of CMA finalists. It’s an influential class.

The wine group is a CMA first. The finalists are equally fresh; innovation for this group means refocusing on quality even as new production and packaging solutions continue to shape the industry.

Two past CMA winners are back to defend hard-earned titles in the Building & Construction Manufacturer of the Year category, only to compete against a successful upstart from Aurora. Colorado’s crazy-innovative food sector is represented by two of its leading brands and one of its most influential co-packers.

Equipment makers dot the manufacturing landscape here and three of Colorado’s finest emerged as 2020 CMA finalists. The Aerospace category is unsurprisingly brilliant, with a finalist from last year, Barber-Nichols, Inc., returning for a go at the top spot.

Finalists in the Consumer Brand category flash industry-leading design acumen, appropriate as the CMAs first-ever Innovative Design category shines a light on companies and products conceived and manufactured in the tightening design-to-production continuum reflective of modern shops.

Three distinctive Energy & Environmental finalists round out this first wave, setting the table for next week’s remaining 2020 CMA finalists.

Outstanding Food Brand/Copacker

Ready Foods, Denver

American Outdoor Products, Boulder

Honey Smoked Fish Holdings, Denver

Innovative Product — Design-to-Manufacture

Eldon James/WilMarc, Fort Collins

Guerrilla Gravity, Denver

TEI Rock Drills, Montrose

Outstanding Consumer Brand

Black Hound Design Company, Arvada

Meier Skis, Denver