Every year, hundreds of new products are introduced, but only a few go on to greatness. At Control Engineering, we try to predict which those will be.

The Control Engineering Engineers’ Choice Awards seek to highlight and honor the many automation, instrumentation, and control products introduced in the previous year, and give readers a chance to revisit some they may have missed. In this, our 20th year of awards, we’ve revamped the process and the timing to let our subscribers help make the predictions.

In January, we asked for nominations of products that readers found or heard about that made the biggest impression. Eligible products were those introduced in North America and available for purchase between December 1, 2005, and December 31, 2006. Vendor, reader and editor nominees numbered 113 candidates in 19 technology categories.

More than 700 ballots were completed, and those nominees were narrowed down to 40 winners by online voting conducted in March. Innovation reigned in the form of greater intelligence in the smallest of devices, extensive enterprise integration and connectivity, integrated safety features, and a range of wireless options.

Knowing most readers don’t own the new products they’re voting on, Control Engineering asked them to read vendor-supplied descriptions and choose two from each category they believed were “the most exceptional or noteworthy based on technological advancement (innovation), service to the industry (usefulness), and/or market impact (would buy it tomorrow if I could).” The top two vote getters in each category were declared winners. In some cases, a tie resulted in more than two winners in a category.

On the following pages you’ll see the 40 Control Engineering Engineers’ Choice Award winners and their product descriptions, as well as a list of the nominees. Descriptions and links to more information on the nominees and winners appear online at www.controleng.com/awards.

Thank you to everyone who cast a vote. Congratulations especially to the three lucky voters who entered our drawing to win a gift check. They are Satish B. Baliga of Houston, TX, Glen Jenkins of Houston, TX, and Larry Richardson of Village of Lakewood, IL.

And congratulations to all the vendors who introduced new and innovative products in 2006. Product innovation keeps North American manufacturing strong, and Control Engineering is proud to showcase the fruits of your hard work.

Renee Robbins is editorial director of Control Engineering. She can be reached at renee.robbins@reedbusiness.com.