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.
History
Beginnings in Stuttgart and the war period 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.
1950–1989: Irene Kärcher, internationalisation of the company 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.
On 17 September 1959, Alfred Kärcher died at the age of 58 from a heart attack. He left behind his wife, Irene Kärcher (1920–1989), and their two children, Johannes and Susanne. Irene Kärcher then took over responsibility for the family-run business. Under her leadership, the company's revenue increased by 70 percent in the first year. In 1962, the first sales company outside Germany was established in a small suburb of Paris, followed by further sales companies in Austria and Switzerland.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the company expanded internationally. During this time, Kärcher's product range included construction formwork, toys, and catamaran boats, before the company began focusing primarily on high-pressure cleaners from 1974 onwards. In 1974, the corporate colour was changed from blue to yellow, and the focus shifted entirely to high-pressure cleaners, which were now manufactured in yellow. In 1975, Kärcher opened its first production facility outside Germany, in Brazil. Since the late 1970s, Kärcher has undertaken cleaning projects on artworks and historic buildings worldwide. In 1984, the first high-pressure cleaner for private use was launched in retail stores.
In 1989, Irene Kärcher died after three decades of leading the company. Following her death, the hired management team already in place took over the leadership of the company. Alfred and Irene Kärcher's children and grandchildren remain involved in the business, including serving on the supervisory board.
From the 1990s: New business areas, takeover of other companies In the 1990s, Kärcher increasingly entered the business areas of commercial floor cleaning and municipal technology. In the private cleaning sector, the company launched various appliances such as hoovers and steam cleaners onto the market. In 2003, Kärcher launched its first fully autonomous cleaning robot for consumers, after which the company focused more on robotics. In the mid-2000s, Kärcher also expanded into the gardening sector and began producing garden pumps.
At the end of 2011, the company purchased the site of the former Pfleiderer brickworks in Winnenden, which nearly doubled the operational area. In September 2012, the old brickworks was demolished, and construction began on an expansion for Kärcher. In September 2014, a new office building for 700 employees and an event building for up to 800 people were opened on the site. Since 2016, a new customer centre has been in operation in Winnenden. The complex is connected to the existing location by a bridge over the intervening railway tracks.
Since the 2000s, Kärcher has invested in various companies. In early 2011, Kärcher acquired the Swedish municipal technology provider Belos. In 2017, Kärcher established its own IT consultancy, Zoi TechCon GmbH. At the end of September 2019, Kärcher announced that it had acquired all business shares of Max Holder GmbH in Reutlingen, a manufacturer of municipal vehicles and vineyard tractors. Since January 2021, Max Holder GmbH has operated under the newly established Kärcher Municipal GmbH. In 2020, Kärcher established its North American headquarters in Aurora, Colorado.
In 2022, the first autonomous sweeper and scrubber dryer for professional use Kira was launched on the market. In January 2022, the brand once again asked 'political figures and the media to immediately cease all use of its brand name in the political sphere' after Valérie Pécresse also used the name Kärcher during the presidential campaign to illustrate the fight against insecurity.
In the 2024 review of WIPO's annual World Intellectual Property Indicators, Kärcher ranked 10th in the world, with 189 designs in industrial design registrations being published under the Hague System during 2023.
Corporate structure Kärcher main company Alfred Kärcher SE & Co. KG is the parent company of the Kärcher Group, which has over 160 subsidiaries. In 2023, the Kärcher Group had a total of around 16,000 employees worldwide and generated a turnover of around €3.29 billion.
Hartmut Jenner has been Chairman of the Executive Board of Kärcher since 2000.
Locations / Sites
Kärcher's headquarters is located in Winnenden, near Stuttgart. The approximately 150,000 square meters of space houses not only the main administration and central departments but also the research and development for all product groups. Additionally, a museum dedicated to the company's history is situated in Winnenden.
There are three units at the site in the municipality of Obersontheim in Baden-Württemberg:
The Obersontheim plant was established in 1965. It manufactures, among other things, professional municipal sweepers. Additionally, sheet metal processing is carried out there, supplying other plants with metal components. Equipment and systems from the subsidiary Futuretech are also produced at this location. Furthermore, the production of cleaning agents at the nearby Sulzdorf facility is linked to the Obersontheim plant. At the Obersontheim plant, individual components are coated in the coating facility. The Bühlertal plant mainly manufactures products for consumers such as high-pressure cleaners, steam cleaners and hoovers. The logistics centre near Obersontheim supplies Kärcher's global subsidiaries and their regional distribution centres. Within Europe, it also directly delivers accessories and spare parts to customers and dealers in over 20 countries. Additionally, the Obersontheim logistics centre manages parts of Kärcher's global logistics operations. At the end of 2022, a major extension of the logistics centre, costing €15 million, was inaugurated to accommodate the increased order volume of the company.
At the plant in Illingen, small series and custom manufacturing have been carried out since 1983. Additionally, switch cabinets, cable harnesses, and portal washing systems are also produced there. The closure of the plant is planned for early 2027. In Waldstetten, industrial vacuums are manufactured.
The Ahorn Service Centre in the Main-Tauber-Kreis has been in operation since 2023; previously, it was located in the neighbouring municipality of Gissigheim since 1992. This centre services and repairs consumer devices as well as smaller commercial products from across Central Europe. The 10,000-square-metre facility in Ahorn repairs approximately 200,000 devices each year.
In addition, Kärcher operates various business offices worldwide. In 2015, the company headquarters for North America was inaugurated in Aurora, Colorado. Other international production and logistics sites include Monterrey in Mexico, Vinhedo in Brazil, and Changshu in China.
Subsidiaries As of 2023, Kärcher had over 160 subsidiaries in 82 countries.
Kärcher New Venture Through Kärcher New Venture GmbH, based in Winnenden, the company invests venture capital in start-up companies, particularly those working on innovations in product, material, or service areas that Kärcher views as having future potential. Investments have been made in start-ups such as Mitte (mineralisation of tap water), Skyline Robotics (automated window cleaning), and Zan Compute (AI-based analysis platform for building management). The Kärcher New Venture team regularly participates in events such as the new.new Festival in Stuttgart.
Kärcher Futuretech Kärcher Futuretech develops and manufactures systems for decontamination, water supply, mobile catering, and field camps for both military and civilian applications. For instance, these systems were deployed in Senegal in 2015 and after the earthquake in Nepal. Additionally, the company offers global logistics services and training. In developing its systems, Kärcher Futuretech leverages the expertise of its parent company in burner and high-pressure technology. In April 2020, Kärcher Futuretech received a contract from the Bundeswehr for the delivery of up to 400 modular field kitchens. According to the CEO, this was the largest order in Kärcher's history at that time.
Kärcher Industrial Vacuuming Kärcher Industrial Vacuuming GmbH (formerly Ringler GmbH until the end of 2021), based in Waldstetten, develops and produces industrial and safety vacuums, dust extraction systems, as well as stationary extraction and central chip removal systems for various industrial needs.
The company originated from Ringler GmbH, founded in 1967 by Bernhard Ringler. The company became one of the leading manufacturers of industrial vacuums in Germany. When Bernhard Ringler sought a successor for his company, he sold it to the Kärcher Group in 2010. Under Kärcher's ownership, the number of employees increased from 29 to 72 by the 50th anniversary in 2017.
Since January 2020, all products are offered in anthracite colour, and an expansion of the production facility in Waldstetten was announced in the same year.
WOMA WOMA GmbH, based in Duisburg, employs around 150 people as of 2024 and is a manufacturer of high-pressure water jet products, such as high-pressure pumps.