Kärcher Stories

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, cleanliness and hygiene in public spaces have taken on a different role than in the past. Be it in restaurants, government agencies, schools or offices – certain cleaning regulations and procedures are changing due to the virus. It is a challenge that will doubtlessly play a major role in the future.

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.

There was a moment in the 1950s when everything was suddenly made of plastic. Nowadays, plastic is facing criticism, but many applications are simply not feasible without the material. Follow the trail of a much-discussed material.

The novel coronavirus is spreading worldwide. With simple hygiene measures, each individual can help to protect themselves and others from the life-threatening lung disease and stem its rapid spread. Our topic is dedicated to the most effective methods of protection against infection.

Kärcher is heading into spring 2020 with a new marketing campaign. The main characters: real life and a little emotion. Time to Bring Back the WOW! 

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.

Digitalization, artificial intelligence and robotics: Technology mega trends are driving huge disruption to the world of manufacturing. Humans, machines and processes are becoming ever more closely interwoven as we strive to improve productivity. Nobody knows exactly where we are heading – but the journey is certainly an exciting one!

We interviewed over 11,000 people around the world about their cleaning habits and found amazing things. In our cleaning study, we explain why cleaning helps reduce stress and in which country it takes the longest to clean.

Fishermen set sail everyday from a small Scottish village to catch lobsters and brown crab along the North Sea. The work at sea is hard, but cleaning up at day's end is easy - thanks to professional hot water pressure washers and sweepers from Kärcher.

It is hard to imagine everyday life without many Kärcher products, especially for workshops. Using the example of a construction site, we show where reliable cleaning technology matters and why, at the same time, the focus is on occupational safety and the protection of health.

The Maultasche (Swabian ravioli) and Kärcher have one thing in common: they both hail from Swabia and can be found all over the world. Join us for a brief journey that shows how culinary delights can bring people together and how cleaning technology can ensure carefree feasting.

Kärcher is always looking for exciting start-ups and has some interesting technologies and business models to report. It's all about bridging major differences.

In our interview with Leandra Hamann from Fraunhofer UMSICHT, we get a scientific perspective of how microplastics are impacting precious water environments and what we can learn by studying caddis-fly larvae.

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.

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 robot vacuum, preferences vary around the globe. But everyone agrees about the "Why": 94% of respondents think a clean home is important.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

Felipe Valderrama is a very busy man. The Colombian works for the non-governmental organisation Fundación Humedales, which, among other things, is committed to providing clean water in remote areas of Colombia. And he is the one who makes it possible.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

An overview of different cleaning challenges across several industries.