This innovative stainless steel lift saves space, accelerates work processes, and minimises safety risks through automated, safe vertical movement of raw materials and goods

Designed to meet strict hygienic standards and made entirely of stainless steel, the lift guarantees full reliability. The idea for the stainless steel lift emerged during a project in the United States. Dinnissen built two mixing lines there for a major multinational in dietary supplements (collagen powder). During this project, Dinnissen specialists Frans Bakker and Melvin van Hilst noticed that the design was not sufficiently safe. Pallets with raw materials had to be placed on a platform at a height of 8 meters, which involved significant risks. Back in the Netherlands, they decided to develop a safer solution together: a lift to safely elevate the pallets with raw materials.

The idea was immediately well received by the client. They searched for a supplier capable of delivering fully stainless steel lifts without hydraulics, due to stringent hygienic requirements. However, the search brought no outcome. When it became clear that no suitable supplier could be found, Dinnissen decided to design and build the lifts themselves, fully tailored to the client’s needs.

The stainless steel lift for pallets, IBCs, and FIBCs provides an efficient and safe way to move raw materials and products within a hygienic production environment. This innovative system meets the strict hygiene standards of the food industry, saves space, ensures safety, and accelerates work processes.

The lift’s design is fully aligned with the highest safety and hygiene standards, with stainless steel as the primary material. Stainless steel is not only corrosion-resistant but also easy to clean, minimizing the risk of contamination. Moreover, the stainless steel lift is highly versatile: it can easily handle various product types, including pallets, drums, big bags, and sack goods.

Dinnissen has further enhanced the lift’s safety by opting for a mechanical belt drive instead of hydraulics. This not only improves hygiene but also makes the system more reliable and durable. Additionally, the lifts comply with safety standards, such as CE certification, thanks to collaboration with the Liftinstituut in The Netherlands. This partnership ensures compliance and safe operation in industrial environments. The fully stainless steel lift features its own control system, including LOTO provisions and fall protection, to ensure maximum safety. Everything is fully compliant with the EN 81-30:2010 regulations.

Dinnissen designs the stainless steel lift entirely according to the specific requirements of the customer. This includes considerations such as height, capacity, or the specific configuration of input and output routes. Dinnissen ensures that the lift seamlessly integrates into the production process. The lifts can be built in various heights and have a lifting capacity ranging from 500 to 2000 kg.

Dinnissen has already built several stainless steel lifts and is currently producing multiple units for various customers.

The Africa Sustainable Commodities Initiative (ASCI) has been selected as a winner of the Schwab Foundation Awards 2025

Proforest’s Africa and Global director, Abraham Baffoe has received the award for Collective Social Innovators on behalf of ASCI today at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos. The Schwab Foundation awards recognise outstanding social entrepreneurs and innovators who are driving systemic change around the world. The 2025 awards celebrate 18 social entrepreneurs and innovators from 15 organisations in 13 countries, who are engaged in action as diverse as protecting nature, supporting livelihoods of economically marginalised communities, and transforming healthcare and education. ASCI is joining a global community of nearly 500 social entrepreneurs and innovators, who collectively impact 931 million lives.

Agriculture is a key economic driver in Africa, providing jobs and livelihoods for millions of people, but it is also a cause of deforestation, biodiversity loss and human rights abuses. To help navigate the complexities of balancing agricultural development to feed the growing population while protecting forests and biodiversity, the Africa Sustainable Commodities Initiative brings ten countries in West and Central Africa together, committed to principles of responsible production, in a way that protects natural resources and advances human rights and livelihoods.

These ten countries – Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone – represent 75% of Africa’s tropical forests and 25% globally.

Abraham has been instrumental in leading the ASCI since its inception as the Africa Palm Oil Initiative in 2014. Over ten years the collective has driven changes in policy, established new national process and built capacity, creating an enabling environment for long-term, sustainable growth and development, through an African-owned and led initiative, inclusive of government, private sector and communities.

“This award is an honour I share with all the members of the Africa Sustainable Commodities Initiative,” said Abraham Baffoe, Proforest Africa and Global Executive director. “ASCI embeds the multi-stakeholder process at every stage and every level, which has been a crucial element in its ongoing success. This recognition from the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is a springboard to what I hope will be further global engagement and investment through ASCI, where there is so much opportunity ahead, and so much need to support livelihoods for millions of people and protect our natural resources in Africa.”

The South African stone fruit industry led by Hortgro, is accelerating the adoption of new technologies and innovative growing practices to take production to the next level

The industry is driving forward a wide range of research projects designed to make production more efficient, address the challenges of climate change, and boost output of high-quality fruit. The extent of the industry’s efforts to take production to the next level are underlined by the fact that Hortgro has a dedicated division that is focused on identifying key research areas, funding projects and seeking collaborative opportunities with both local and international research groups. It supports programmes across a range of areas from production through to crop protection and post-harvest technology, and produces reports, training videos, seminars and webinars to help growers with continual improvement.

Recent initiatives have included putting up netting on farms to increase yields and improve fruit quality, installing solar panels to tackle energy shortages, adopting new technologies for quality management in the packhouse, using drones for precision farming, and investing in water-saving and irrigation-management measures such as low flow drip irrigation, mulching, water probesand new pumping systems. 

Collaboration with growers is at the heart of Hortgro’s approach to research and development. “Our job is to create an enabling environment,” said Jacques du Preez, general manager of trade and markets. “We do that through research into innovation and technology, as well as assisting growers in obtaining market access and creating trade opportunities for them.”

Among the various initiatives, an ongoing project called The Orchard of the Future is aimed at enabling greater operational efficiency, improving fruit production, reducing wastage, and showcasing potential new strategies and technologies that can reduce risk.

Hortgro also plays its part in the Post-Harvest Innovation (PHI) Programme, which is a public-private partnership between the Department of Science and Innovation andvarious fruit industries through the Fresh Produce Exporter’s Forum. The programme aims to create a culture of innovation by providing funding opportunities to projects filling technology gaps in the horticultural export value chain. 

Currently in its fifth phase – which runs until June 2026 – four research projects are being carried out to find solutions to industry challenges, with an emphasis on participation from historically disadvantaged individuals. Current research projects include ultra-low oxygen and nitric oxide treatment for pests in pome and stone fruit, and the commercial potential of ethyl formate fumigation, which is regarded as a promising post-harvest treatment for external pests. Recently completed projects, meanwhile, have sought scientific solutions to broken stones in plums and moisture loss in nectarines, among other things. 

New varietal development is a further area where growers are looking to gain an edge. Pierre Rossouw, technical manager at leading supplier Stems, said the company has access to as many as 13 different breeding programmes from around the world to ensure it has the best varieties for each particular product throughout the season. 

“As we have such a diverse climate, you need certain genetics that will be adaptable to each specific region,” he added. “If you plant the right variety on the right rootstock in the right area, you can grow a very good product. That’s the whole aim, and how we want to distinguish ourselves from the competition and supply our customers with the best possible product in a specific window.”