Automated fast food

I stopped in a Mickey D's drive thru today, and I saw a automated drink machine - a cup comes down, the machine fills it up, then a little conveyer belt moves it over, and the crew person puts a lid on it. Never saw that before. Apparently, the order taker, money taker, keys in the order, and it drops the right size cup, and fills it right up. I guess we are going to see automation eliminate more jobs?

when the workers are protesting to unionize and demand $15 an hour I am suprised that McD's hasn't had machines do almost all of the tasks. Them workers don't realize they are protesting them right out of a job.

have you seen this on t-v yet, the order taker is in another state via computer and phone taking orders then relaying them to fast-food outlets... comming to a state near you...true story, saw it and been looking at the fast-food places in my state to see if its happening yet...

(quoted from post at 21:43:20 04/24/14) I stopped in a Mickey D's drive thru today, and I saw a automated drink machine - I guess we are going to see automation eliminate more jobs?

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round 20 years ago there was a McD in Davenport, IA that had an automated French fryer. Hopper dropped fries in a basket the moved into the lard. At the predetermined time basket raised and dumped into another hopper. That hopped filled the fry sleeves. I haven't noticed one since or anywhere else. Like I said, 20 years ago.

A company called "Momentum Machines" has developed a machine that makes burgers to order. They supposedly have a machine on the drawing board that can make a custom blend (you want 1/3 pork, 1/3 beef and 1/3 elk?), custom seasoned burger, cooked to the customers taste (you want medium rare?) and with freshly sliced onions, tomato, etc. You want a poppyseed bun, no mustard, etc? No problem. And it can make 360 burgers an hour and the only human effort is refilling the machine. Yeah, I think a lot of fast food workers are gonna find out that the real minimum wage isn't gonna be $15/hr, but instead it will be no wages at all.

sweet,next it will be outsourced to India and nobody will be able to use a drive through

Kinda reminds me of my small accounting staff of four that I supervised many years ago. They kept complaining about having to do most everything manually - ie payroll checks, accounts payable and receivable, etc. They insisted that the home office needed to computerize the branches and make their jobs easier.

Fast forward to a year later. Home office answered their prayers and made their jobs much easier - they got to stay home and draw unemployment while they searched for a new job! Be careful what you wish for - you may just get what you deserve!

As governments try to push up minimum wage that is how companies are going to deal with the extra costs - automate and eliminate the job.

They've had that set up at the one in Stanton for a long time. I don't know that they ever hired anybody to just stand there and fill cups. Just makes filling an order go a little faster if they can just put the lid on and hand it to you.
I'm willing to bet more jobs at higher pay are involved in manufacturing the machines to do that than will ever be eliminated by the machine itself.

Those have been out for years

I don't know, what's better? Some kid with a runny nose sneezing into your drink, (or getting a can of pop some guy on a loading dock pee'd on- NEVER drink from a can without a good washing first!!!) or the automated thing? I try not to think about who's preparing the food I eat. I've worked in too many food service establishments to think many people care as long as it's fast and hot.

Where was that McDonnald's located?

The automation has been around since the late 1970's when PLC's (Programmable Linear Controller) were widely adapted. The hangup was that it takes skilled personel to maintain and repair the automation, i.e. skills equivalent to a copier repairman.

Most fast food restaraunts were too small to keep a full time technician busy at just one loacation, but they could not afford to be shut down for an hour waiting for an off-site technician to arrive.

Also the restaraunt managers and most franchise owners balked at paying market wages for experienced technicians, and they didn't have the back ground to hire and train new technicians.

It will be interesting to watch what happens. I suspect the fast food industry does not want to go automated no matter what wages are. The lowest price restaraunts will switch to more pre-packaged products. The higher priced restaraunts will not change.

A few well publicised machines could influence politicians and the public enough to get the industry an exemption to the new minimum wage laws.

The one is Swartz Creek is broke half the time I see it. The person ends up moving the cup and filling it manually.

The wife HAS to have a diet coke, which forces me through the drive-thru. Personally, I dont eat there, as McDonalds donates to a bunch of anti-hunting groups. But thats a different discussion. They sell meat, but dont support hunting?!?!

Rick

Those automated drink machines have been around for a couple years anyway.

With the tanked economy, Mcdonalds has seen a huge uptick in sales because people are "eating out" at the cheap fast food place instead of the fancy restaurant to save money. More people are using the drive-thru instead of eating inside too.

Haven't you noticed that most Mcdonalds now have TWO drive-thru lanes to place your order now?

It's all to get more people through quicker.

It hasn't eliminated a job either. It's saved them from hiring additional people, but hasn't eliminated any jobs.

Years ago, there was one window. You paid, and got your order all in one place. Now unless it's real late at night or early in the morning, you pay at one window and get your food at the second window.

Before the drink machines you had to wait for the girl to draw your drink. That's an extra 30 seconds or so, more if you've got multiple drinks.

Now the machine starts making drinks as soon as they punch in your order, and they're ready and waiting for you at the pick up window.

The whole point is to get more people through the drive-thru and reduce the time you wait. The less you wait, the more often you eat there. The more often you eat there, the more money they make.

(quoted from post at 06:26:30 04/25/14) They've had that set up at the one in Stanton for a long time. I don't know that they ever hired anybody to just stand there and fill cups. Just makes filling an order go a little faster if they can just put the lid on and hand it to you.
[b:763bba6220]I'm willing to bet more jobs at higher pay are involved in manufacturing the machines to do that than will ever be eliminated by the machine itself.[/b:763bba6220]

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You would lose that bet (unless you are talking about Stanton only, I dont know that location). I have worked at a few stores that were so busy that they did in fact employ a person just for drinks. When it was slower, they ran frys and burgers but mid day was real busy, like 5+ hours busy.

Besides, you are forgetting, there is much more to labor rates than just looking at the cost of the machine compaired to the hourly wage of the employee. Heck, I think you can buy the machine for just the cost of hiring and training a single employee. What do you do when the employee quits to go work at WalMart because they get 50 cents more an hour? Yep, back to hiring and retraining which = more money down the drain. With automation, it just keeps rolling along. Sure, the machine has maintance costs but employees are the biggest maintence costs there are.

And all this is added up using years old numbers. Today, we got stricter child labor laws, higher fuel and electric costs, lower retail prices on food and lets not forget, the Unaffordable Care Act. There are more expences I left out but those are the biggies. Yep, automation is going to be the future and the people wanting $15 an hour are going to vote themselves out of a job.

Rick K gave some info I didn't know about but, I haven't eaten that golden arch stuff for close to eight yrs. because they are involved in other stuff also; stuff that would get this post poofed being a non politically correct poster. I don't like it and they can shovel their fast food crud.

I like the mom and pop establishments besides, I want a good cold one with my burger!

The McDonalds in the town closest to us has had one in the drive through for several years, but Hardee's had on in the mid-90's before most places went to self serve drinks.