Alfred Kärcher SE & Co. KG is a German family-owned parent company of a manufacturer of cleaning equipment and systems, headquartered in Winnenden, Baden-Württemberg.

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.

[6] 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.

Later, heatable concrete formwork and fresh air heaters were also manufactured, which were intended for reconstruction work in the cities destroyed by the war.

[11] 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.

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.

Alfred and Irene Kärcher's children and grandchildren remain involved in the business, including serving on the supervisory board.

[25] 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.

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.

[33] There are three units at the site in the municipality of Obersontheim in Baden-Württemberg: At the plant in Illingen, small series and custom manufacturing have been carried out since 1983.

[49][50] Investments have been made in start-ups such as Mitte (mineralisation of tap water),[51] Skyline Robotics (automated window cleaning),[52] and Zan Compute (AI-based analysis platform for building management).

[49] Kärcher Futuretech develops and manufactures systems for decontamination, water supply, mobile catering, and field camps for both military and civilian applications.

[63][64] High-pressure water jet technology is used for the removal of paints and coatings, the repair of concrete, the cleaning of containers, and the precise cutting of metal.

[65] Zoi TechCon GmbH was founded in July 2017 and employs approximately 200 people across Stuttgart, Berlin, Lisbon, Ho Chi Minh City, and other locations.

[66][67] Zoi is active in the development of digital applications, cloud transformation, and data projects, as well as electrical engineering and design.

Its goal is to support globally operating mid-sized companies and large corporations in their digital transformation with new technologies, and to integrate existing enterprise IT and cloud systems.

[80] In some countries such as Germany, France, Poland, Russia, Georgia, Mexico, Spain[81] and the United States, the term "Kärcher" is colloquially used synonymously with a pressure washer and the verb "kärchern" has been increasingly used in the German-speaking world since the turn of the millennium to refer to working with high-pressure cleaners.

[82][83] In France, the word "karcher" was added to Petit Robert in 2006, after the then French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy controversially stated in 2005 that he wanted to "kärcher" the Paris suburbs (banlieues); obviously meaning all criminals and other undesirables should be removed.

[16][82] As a response, Kärcher France sent a letter to all of the candidates in the 2007 presidential election asking them not to use the company's name this way, and it has run ads in newspapers disassociating itself from the remarks.

[84] Since 1980, the company has undertaken over 190 cultural sponsorship projects worldwide,[85] focusing particularly on the cleaning of renowned historical buildings, monuments, and sites.

[88] Under its cultural sponsorship program, Kärcher has supported more than 190 projects to clean internationally prominent buildings such as the National Monument in Jakarta (2014),[89][90] the Space Needle in Seattle (2008), the London Eye in London (2013), the Presidents' heads at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial (2005), the Colossi of Memnon in Luxor (2003),[91] the Colonnades on St. Peter's Square in Rome (1998), the Statue of Liberty in New York City (1985)[92] and the Statue of Christ in Rio de Janeiro (1980).

[96] In 2018, the walls of the choir at Ulm Minster, the church with the world's tallest steeple, were cleaned with battery-operated backpack vacuums.

[97] In 2020, Kärcher simultaneously cleaned the South Tower of Berlin Cathedral[98] and the world's largest Bismarck Monument in Hamburg.

[100] Projects from the 2020s include the cleaning of Cologne Cathedral,[86] the over 3,300-years-old Luxor obelisk on the Place de la Concorde in Paris,[101] the steps in front of the Württemberg Mausoleum in Stuttgart,[102] and the Citadel of Besançon.

Since 2013, such a facility has been successfully operational in the town of San Miguel de Sema, with a population of 4,000, in the Boyacá region of Colombia.

For example, during the 2021 European floods, Kärcher donated high-pressure cleaners, dirty water pumps, generators, and wet and dry vacuums to disaster relief agencies and the German Red Cross.

[124][125] Compared to 2020, Kärcher reduced the carbon dioxide emissions of its production and logistics sites by 16,660 tonnes by 2023, which corresponds to 28 percent.

[127][128] After the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Kärcher initially promised to suspend exports to Russia and halt investments.

However, for a period following this announcement, Kärcher products remained available for purchase in Russia,[129] as evidenced by listings on the company's official Russian website.