Recent from talks
Kärcher
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Kärcher
Kärcher SE & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of cleaning equipment and systems, headquartered in Winnenden, Baden-Württemberg. Kärcher is considered the global market leader in this segment and, as of 2024, operates in 170 companies across 85 countries.
The company employs 17,000 people worldwide and in 2024 it posted sales revenues of € 3.44 billion.
In 1924, after graduating from the Technical University of Stuttgart, Alfred Kärcher (1901-1959) joined his father's business, which sold industrial cooking and laundry equipment in Stuttgart's Bad Cannstatt district. In the following years, Alfred Kärcher began to develop equipment such as electric immersion heaters and crucible furnaces for industrial use, which became the basis for founding his own company. In 1935, he founded the Alfred Kärcher Kommanditgesellschaft in Bad Cannstatt; his father Emil was a partner until his death.
One of the first commercial successes was a salt bath furnace for the energy-saving hardening and refining of light metals. Kärcher, whose company had only limited production capacities of its own at the time, sold the patent for this to Siebert GmbH in Frankfurt am Main. Over 1,200 units of the system were sold by 1945, primarily in the aviation industry.
Due to lack of space, 120 employees moved to Winnenden in 1939, where the company has been headquartered ever since.
At the beginning of the World War II, the company was involved in the defence industry and produced cabin heaters and devices for de-icing wings and tail units for the Luftwaffe, among other things. As early as 1934, Alfred Kärcher had developed petrol-powered hot air blowers on behalf of Lufthansa, which were used to preheat aircraft engines in winter to facilitate starting. During World War II, these mobile heaters were also used by the Wehrmacht to preheat engines and prisoners of war were used in production. Kärcher had a Russian camp, a Polish camp, a French camp and the Ruitzenmühle camp.
In the immediate post-war period, Kärcher mainly built products such as cookers, small cookers, handcarts and trailers for the population. Later, heatable concrete formwork and fresh air heaters were also manufactured, which were intended for reconstruction work in the cities destroyed by the war. In 1948, the company was commissioned to repair the steam cleaners of the United States Army.
In 1950, the cleaning technology division was established with the development of the first European hot water high-pressure cleaner, the DS 350. From the mid-1950s to the 1970s, the production of steam generators for industry and construction was a key focus for the company, while cleaning technology only later became Kärcher's main revenue-generating sector.
Hub AI
Kärcher AI simulator
(@Kärcher_simulator)
Kärcher
Kärcher SE & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of cleaning equipment and systems, headquartered in Winnenden, Baden-Württemberg. Kärcher is considered the global market leader in this segment and, as of 2024, operates in 170 companies across 85 countries.
The company employs 17,000 people worldwide and in 2024 it posted sales revenues of € 3.44 billion.
In 1924, after graduating from the Technical University of Stuttgart, Alfred Kärcher (1901-1959) joined his father's business, which sold industrial cooking and laundry equipment in Stuttgart's Bad Cannstatt district. In the following years, Alfred Kärcher began to develop equipment such as electric immersion heaters and crucible furnaces for industrial use, which became the basis for founding his own company. In 1935, he founded the Alfred Kärcher Kommanditgesellschaft in Bad Cannstatt; his father Emil was a partner until his death.
One of the first commercial successes was a salt bath furnace for the energy-saving hardening and refining of light metals. Kärcher, whose company had only limited production capacities of its own at the time, sold the patent for this to Siebert GmbH in Frankfurt am Main. Over 1,200 units of the system were sold by 1945, primarily in the aviation industry.
Due to lack of space, 120 employees moved to Winnenden in 1939, where the company has been headquartered ever since.
At the beginning of the World War II, the company was involved in the defence industry and produced cabin heaters and devices for de-icing wings and tail units for the Luftwaffe, among other things. As early as 1934, Alfred Kärcher had developed petrol-powered hot air blowers on behalf of Lufthansa, which were used to preheat aircraft engines in winter to facilitate starting. During World War II, these mobile heaters were also used by the Wehrmacht to preheat engines and prisoners of war were used in production. Kärcher had a Russian camp, a Polish camp, a French camp and the Ruitzenmühle camp.
In the immediate post-war period, Kärcher mainly built products such as cookers, small cookers, handcarts and trailers for the population. Later, heatable concrete formwork and fresh air heaters were also manufactured, which were intended for reconstruction work in the cities destroyed by the war. In 1948, the company was commissioned to repair the steam cleaners of the United States Army.
In 1950, the cleaning technology division was established with the development of the first European hot water high-pressure cleaner, the DS 350. From the mid-1950s to the 1970s, the production of steam generators for industry and construction was a key focus for the company, while cleaning technology only later became Kärcher's main revenue-generating sector.
Recent media