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Deleted member 126051
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Well, the key phrase you used is "before its ready". Making a move toward robotics would have many risks and implications. Not to mention protesting ex-employees who were replaced.
My point is that robotics would be an obvious and necessary move and that he should be "planning" for this as a defacto future move.
McDonalds has been declining for some time now and if robotics can make them more profitable they should be doing serious R&D. That is planning.
I would say that this CEO is clearly LYING. They are probably testing robotics rigorously and simply do not want to agitate their already agitated workforce and harm their public image by appearing to be heartless.
Also, you need to parse his words carefully. He says that robotics would not ELIMINATE the human element. He is not saying that it couldn't significantly reduce the human element.
Also:
Easterbrook has cited improved customer service as a key reason for McDonald's recent turnaround. Higher pay and technological advances are more likely to result in workers being shifted to dining rooms and more service-oriented roles, he said.
So parse that down and he is painting a picture of a McDonalds run by robots were humans play a minor role as human figureheads.
On the stock side of things, McDonalds is a terrible stock and they know it. People want fast-quality food now and McDonalds is not able to compete in the quality arena. They will be around forever, or slowly fade away. This is why they opened Chipolte, and see how that is working out for them.
Anyhoo, I just really hate this "Fight for $15" BS. Someday when the robot overlords are running the shithole McDs and there is one human "greeter" at the door, then he can make $20 an hour. Until then pay should be performance based, not protest forced.
I think, however, the distant future of McDs is going to be like in Idiocracy with a vending machine in the street dispensing fries and bwando.
Realistically, McDonalds isn't going to go the full robotic prep station route. At least not immediately.
What they WILL do is replace their current cashiers with self-service kiosks (a couple in my area already have these and have for years). If you look at McDonalds most of the time, they have one cashier on. The only times you see more are generally the lunch and dinner rushes.
Kiosks will free them from needing even that. And they can concentrate on assisting the kitchen staff and getting orders prepped.