Artificial Intelligence in Practice

15McDonald's: Using Robots And Artificial Intelligence To Automate Processes

McDonald's employs 400,000 staff across its 36,000 restaurants spread over 120 countries.¹

At the start of 2017, it unveiled a new strategy² focused on using digital technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), to drive growth.

Self-service kiosks are increasingly prominent in its outlets, and are often cited as one of the more visible signs of a trend towards replacing human workers with machines.

However, in the company's own words, its main drive is to use technology for “re-shaping our interactions with the customer – whether they eat in, take out, drive thru or order delivery”.

What Problem Is Artificial Intelligence Helping To Solve?

Restaurant chains have to carefully manage their inventories to avoid unsold food going to waste or items not being in stock when customers want them.

Traditional, static menu displays don't offer the flexibility to allow stores to promote items most likely to appeal at different times of the day unless they are manually updated.

On top of that, McDonald's restaurants often attract large volumes of customers at peak times during the day. While this is largely what has made the brand the success it is, dealing with large numbers of people all expecting to be served very quickly and accurately is challenging in its own right.

How Is Artificial Intelligence Used In Practice?

Rather than just being straightforward terminals, those McDonald's self-service ...