Kärcher Stories

Experience exciting stories with Kärcher from digital manufacturing, to cleaning at the Jungfraujoch in the Swiss Alps and handy houshold cleaning tips. Let us show you how we make a difference – with our cleaning solutions and beyond. Join us on our journey through the world of Kärcher.

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difference – The Kärcher Magazine

difference aims to show you how we make a difference – with our cleaning solutions and beyond. Join us on our journey through the world of Kärcher.

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Visit to the village of hope

After a long and difficult past, the small Colombian village of Bocas del Carare now finds itself on its own unique path to the future – green, modern and in harmony with nature.

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Plastic through the ages

There was a moment in the 1950s when everything was suddenly made of plastic. The new, versatile material was inexpensive and popular due to its durability. It soon became clear that it also had downsides, and recycling would be important. Nowadays plastic is facing some criticism, but many applications are simply not feasible without the material. And various alternatives that claim to be sustainable have an impact on the environment in other ways. Following the trail of a much-discussed material.

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The Elephant Whisperer

Somchat Changkarn and his charges can communicate without words – this mahout can tell how the animals are feeling by their body language. He spends up to 12 hours per day with the pachyderms at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center.

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Petrol running through her veins

Riding across the terrain at more than 50 hp, you would cut a very athletic figure. But it takes much more than that to race over hills and tackle steep curves on a motocross bike like Kärcher employee Vanessa Helpert: with a great deal of discipline, skill and perseverance, the enthusiastic motorcyclist has been doing laps on the racetrack since the age of three.

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BRING BACK THE WOW

Companies often refresh their branding to increase brand recognition or to improve an otherwise damaged image. Happily, Kärcher is well liked by our customers worldwide and our business growth over recent years has been excellent. However, rather than resting on our laurels, the company is heading into spring 2020 with a new campaign. The main characters: real life and a little emotion.

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Extreme travelling

With around 219 million passengers every year, the Shanghai Hongqiao train station in eastern China is one of the largest train stations in the world. It resembles a labyrinth, the secrets of which only a few people know – Zhu Hongyan is one of them.

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The "crime scene cleaner" in the music world

In the short film "A Rock ‘n‘ Roll Story" the hero is not some singer of a band, but the man who cleans up everything the day after the concert. Max Friedrich cleaned a club in Berlin for a long time – and witnessed and found many things in the process.

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Stuck to the Munich underworld

Nobody knows the underground stations in Munich as well as Klaus Merkel. And this knowledge will also stay in the family for a while because his son Alexander has taken over the advertising company.

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"Spiros has a perfect work-life balance"

Philip Chrobot is studying at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy – and has won the Kärcher difference Award, now presented for the first time. His inspirational short film "Spiros – Rent A Boat" gives insights into the life and working world of the 58-year-old boat renter Spiros Bardis on the Greek island of Corfu. In this interview, Chrobot speaks about the filming and the competition.

 

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How does the world clean? International Cleaning Study 2018

People around the world spend just over two hours cleaning each week. From a mop and broom, to cleaning with steam, or leaving the chores to a vacuum robot, preferences vary around the globe. But everyone agrees about the "Why": 94% of respondents think a clean home is important.

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Road Trains

They are as much a part of Australia as kangaroos and the Great Barrier Reef: road trains supply remote areas with goods of all kinds. At over 50 metres long and weighing 130 tonnes, they are the kings of the road. But these giants spend their days exposed to extreme temperatures and aggressive dirt. A normal wash system simply wouldn’t be able to cope.

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From ultra-high-pressure to dry ice

Different challenges are in the foreground across all industries when it comes to cleaning. Cleaning methods and appliances vary accordingly. An overview.

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Everdrill

After the Antarctic and the Arctic, the glaciers in the high mountains of Asia are the third largest store of fresh water on the planet. Their meltwater fills the continent’s major rivers and supplies drinking water for billions of people. Due to their high altitude, these areas are particularly affected by climate change. The consequences for the region are fatal, with the threat of avalanches, floods and, in the long term, a significant shortage of water. Geologists use high-pressure cleaners as drills to penetrate deep layers of ice.

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Insights into a good life

Family and friends, education, health and prosperity: in its study of 155 countries, the World Happiness Report indicates that discrepancies in these areas significantly influence our feelings of happiness. The PNAS* study “Buying time promotes happiness”, meanwhile, draws attention to an additional factor that has previously remained hidden: time. Because only those who have time are able to spend it doing things that make them happy. Of course, it is up to each individual to decide whether to treat themselves to a babysitter, a cleaner or special equipment to make housework and gardening quick and easy.

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On the Hunt for Dirt

What is dust actually made of? What exactly is the difference between cleaning and tidying up? And what’s the most effective way to clean your home? We take a closer look and uncover the secrets of a squeaky-clean apartment.

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"Everyone likes it clean"

The world has one thing in common as far as cleaning is concerned: a clean home is important or very important to almost everyone. This shows that household cleaning, whether regularly or irregularly, is simply part of life. But what precisely is behind all this? Who spends the most time cleaning and what aids are used most frequently for cleaning?

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No more cleaning ever again?

Robot vacuum cleaners have long since become a modern-day reality and networked cleaning systems are becoming established in the building service contractor market. But how will it continue?

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Reaching for the sky

Many people aim to reach for the sky in life, but only few follow the path being trodden by Murezi Casanova. At the Benedictine Monastery in Disentis, Switzerland, the novice and trained landscape gardener takes care of the greenery and monastery garden, and will soon add the salvation of his fellow human beings to his list of duties.

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Mud, sweat & high pressure

9,000 kilometres, a lot of desert soil almost impassable, and only one goal in mind. Each and every year, it is fascinating to see how the drivers in the Dakar Rally deal with the distance. While they are on their own between stages,The whole spectacle is by no means a one-man operation, though. A look behind the curtains...

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Telescope cleaning at the Stuttgart Observatory

Ulrich Teufel, engineer and passionate amateur astronomer, loved to gaze at the stars through the attic window of his bedroom as a boy, which is why he joined the society that looks after and maintains the observatory early on. He was no longer able to see through the dirty telescope. So he took the initiative: "Today we are going to start cleaning the telescope mirror," says Teufel. And what sounds like a simple task proves to be somewhat more challenging.

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Nature as the Artist

Sparkling ice needles, glinting wafts of mist, white hoarfrost – nature is full of fascinating phenomena. Thomas Rappaport is an artist with an eye for them. In his project "giSCHt – melting sculptures" he artistically accompanies a cherry tree on its terminal way. After 80 years of blossoming, coming to red rich fruition, giving shade und being part of the all-terrain microclimate, the artist creates a unique portrait of the tree.

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Sarah's Quest for Clean Water

In order to make polluted water potable, people in Kenya often boil it – this requires a lot of firewood. This need contributes to the increasing rate of deforestation, which leads to an increase in CO2 emissions. A climate protection project in Kenya is trying to counter this. The project involves distributing water filters to households.

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How does a pressure washer work?

Anyone who has used a pressure washer before knows that cleaning outdoors can be a lot of fun. They can be used to clean practically everything on or around the house in next to no time. But how does a pressure washer actually work? And how is it made? Take a look inside the cleaning machine and come with us on a journey to the Kärcher factory in the Swabian town of Obersontheim, where we make our K 7 Full Control pressure washer.

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Jungfraujoch in the Swiss Alps: right at the top

Up to 5,000 tourists visit the Jungfraujoch in the Bernese Oberland every day – and bring a lot of dirt along with them. The workers on the Jungfraubahn railway use Kärcher cleaning appliances to clean the trains and buildings daily for their guests.

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Dawn of the digital manufacturing world

By combining industrial production with modern information and communication technology, new manufacturing concepts are created. Kärcher is confronting these new challenges and is working with an assembly line which employs Industry 4.0 principles.

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Cologne Zoo

With 1.4 million visitors annually, dirt and rubbish is often left behind in Cologne Zoo. Both the animal enclosures and green spaces must be cared for and the paths cleaned regularly. The MIC 34 municipal vehicle is used at Cologne Zoo to carry out these tasks.

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Cleaning with the experts

From the big spring clean to weekly household cleaning, the questions are often the same: where do I start and where do I stop? And above all: what is the quickest and most effective way of doing it? Question after question: the cleaning experts from Kärcher and domestic economist Urte Paaßen provide the answers.