Head of Development Pila with the Batt TDS

ystral builds machines for mixing solids and liquids. Head of Development Raoul Pila explains what this has to do with batteries and chocolate at the test station, a tiled room next to the assembly hall. "It's like a glass of milk and Kaba," says the mechanical engineer: "If you only stir it briefly, you get lumps." ystral systems, on the other hand, are designed to deliver products that are as homogeneous as possible. Customers include manufacturers of wall paints or toothpaste, pharmaceutical and chemical companies. Ystral builds various machines, but the Conti-TDS is the heart of many systems that are developed with customers at the test site. TDS stands for "Transfer and Dispersing System". The inconspicuous machine pumps liquid from a tank into a mixing chamber, creating a vacuum that draws powder from a docked container. The granules are ground ultra-fine and dispersed evenly into the liquid - without lumps, without dust, without loss, explains Pila. Some of the systems also process hazardous materials. ystral is described as a "hidden champion", a company that is not so well known but is far ahead in its field. In its halls, parts are milled, turned and drilled and stored up to the ceiling. There are men standing on ladders for assembly, systems with entire silos for powder or with metal heating jackets to keep the resin liquid. They all have one thing in common: the Conti-TDS. The new development is also based on this, explains Pila on the way to his department. "We recognized the potential for battery technology three or four years ago." Not that the team knew anything about batteries, but it was clear that powders had to be mixed very homogeneously with liquids to form a battery paste. In the tiled room of the research and development department, there is a blue barrel with the words nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide on it. In front of a huge monitor, company co-owner David Manke is working with an external consultant on a new control system.