The Kärcher company, known all over Europe for its yellow and black power-washing equipment, has long had a cashless payment system in operation at its main factory in Winnenden. Employees used a magnetic card to make purchases at the staff canteen and from any one of over twenty vending machines located throughout the site. The CashCard systems in use, together with the then newly developed CashCard reconstruction procedure for magnetic cards resulted in a high degree of reliability and system ergonomics. Kärcher were satisfied with the technology, installed additional systems at branch offices, and looked to develop the system further.

Each branch was equipped with at least one PC hooked up to the CashCard system, and all PCs were connected together over the company’s own network making it possible to execute any system operation at any computer. This enabled the company to evaluate turnover data and, if required, access or verify on-line connectivity of devices in any remote branch office location.

The evolution of the LEGIC contactless chip card offered many state-of-the-art advantages over the old magnetic cards and so Kärcher decided to introduce a hybrid card using a LEGIC transponder for access control and time & attendance functions, retaining the magnetic stripe for the CashCard element. Later this CashCard element was also changed to LEGIC control.

But when planning the full upgrade from magnetic to chip card operation, it was clear to Kärcher that it would be impossible to collect all the cards that were already circulating and in use. Employees needed them for access control and time & attendance functions and it was infeasible to have the cards reprogrammed by the personnel office as this would have resulted in a significant loss of working time for every employee.

The solution was to issue new LEGIC chip cards to every employee and install a specially designed coding station. This contained a hybrid reader, capable of reading not only the magnetic stripe on the old cards but also of reading and writing to the new LEGIC chip cards. Each card only had to be inserted once and information from the magnetic stripe was read and transferred to the LEGIC chip card. To minimise inconvenience to the company and the employees, two coding devices were installed at the entrance to the works canteen, and as employees came in for lunch, cards were reprogrammed as they queued for their meals. Kärcher are delighted with the result. The company now has a fully cashless card system using the latest chip card technology and no working time was lost while employees were issued with new cards. As one employee was heard to quote: “Technology can be so simple.”