[ADDISON]

Here is the solution without using any web resources. I tried to make it as simple as I could.

{assign var="columns" value=3}
{assign var="i" value=0}
{assign var="totalmanufacturers" value=$manufacturers|@count}

{if $manufacturers}
	{if $columns gt 0}
		{assign var="rowloop" value=$totalmanufacturers/$columns}
		{assign var="restloop" value=$totalmanufacturers%$columns}
<table>
		{section name=rows loop=$rowloop}
	<tr>
			{section name=rowname loop=$columns}
		<td>{$manufacturers[$i].name}</td>
				{assign var="i" value=$i+1}
			{/section}
	</tr>
	<tr>
			{assign var="i" value=$i-$columns}
			{section name=rowproducts loop=$columns}
		<td>{$manufacturers[$i].products}</td>
				{assign var="i" value=$i+1}
			{/section}
	</tr>
		{/section}
	<tr>
		{section name=rowname loop=$restloop}
		<td>{$manufacturers[$i].name}</td>
			{assign var="i" value=$i+1}
		{/section}
	</tr>
		<tr>
		{assign var="i" value=$i-$restloop}
		{section name=rowproducts loop=$restloop}
		<td>{$manufacturers[$i].products}</td>
			{assign var="i" value=$i+1}
		{/section}
	</tr>
</table>
	{else}
		The number of columns must be greater than 0
	{/if}
{else}
There are no manufacturers. Please create them.
{/if}