What are the new strategies where India is concerned, now that Kärcher has established its own operations? What are Kärcher’s plans for the coming year?
India holds enormous potential for Kärcher. Its cleaning needs are increasing in line with the complexity of processes. The country’s infrastructure has been greatly expanded in recent years. Many hotels, office buildings, public institutions and roads have been built. Our innovative machines make it possible to clean them quickly, thoroughly and economically. The high population density and the subtropical and tropical climate in many parts of the country are a challenge when it comes to cleaning because germs spread fast in warm and humid environments. Our machine-based solutions enable us to ensure hygienically impeccable results. In future, training will play a very important role. At our seminars we show users how to clean most effectively with our cleaning technology.
Kärcher India currently has 130 experienced employees who are excellently acquainted with local conditions. In addition to its head office in Noida, Kärcher India has an extensive sales and service network of trading partners and eight branch offices, spanning the entire sub-continent from Panchkula in the North to Bangalore in the South and from Mumbai in the West to Kolkata in the East.
Which are the main sectors that Kärcher India will be focusing on?
Overall, India has an impressive economic growth and is one of the world’s strongest economies. Beside industry, the construction, retail and transport sectors are the main growth drivers, but the service sector, agriculture and mining also play an important role. Cleanliness and cost-efficient cleaning are important to all, whether on construction sites, in logistics companies’ vehicle fleets, or in livestock quarters. However, one of the key target groups is manufacturing industry. Mainly in export-oriented businesses, cleaning forms part of the production process in order to maintain quality.
Karcher won an innovation award at ISSA Interclean…
Of course we are very proud to have won the Innovation Award for our B 80W scrubber-drier. It features the Kärcher Intelligent Key system that can be used to set an individual profile for each user. This makes the machine especially easy to handle and also very economical to operate because it is always set optimally for the particular application.
At the CMS fair in Berlin, Germany, and at Interclean in Amsterdam, Netherlands, we have won prizes four times in succession since 2009 with our scrubber-driers. That shows that we are the technical leader in this segment. This, of course gives us great satisfaction after having invested and developed the technologies. In many sectors, even more emphasis is placed on productive cleaning. Although a great deal of cleaning is still done manually in India, the proportion is decreasing steadily. The trend is towards mechanised cleaning processes that offer greater efficiency.
What other equipment that has been customised for Indian applications?
In the single-disc BDS 43/180C, we have an exclusive model for the Indian market in our product range. It was developed in India to cater for regional needs and is manufactured there, too. We also designed the exclusive HD 7/17-4 Cage Classic cold-water pressure cleaner for Indian requirements and will be continuing in the direction in which we have set out by offering models that are ideally suited for local conditions in the future.
