4 ms·

Yes. It happened in the manufacture of all other consumer goods so why wouldn't it happen in the manufacture of food? If you look far enough into the future al

Yes. It happened in the manufacture of all other consumer goods so why wouldn't it happen in the manufacture of food? If you look far enough into the future all manual labor will be performed by machines. Don't be afraid of it, be aware of it. Adapt or die.

pbhjpbhj 9y ago
In the UK the primary change I can tell from a customer perspective is that they shifted processing of orders to be done by the customer. You can order by app or on the touchscreens in store, or there's a single checkout that is only manned on demand - the cashier has drink prep duties, possibly others too (icecreams I think). This means in my local McDo they've cut the checkouts from 5 down to 1, got rid of probably 2 staff on checkout and pushed that work to customers. They've restructured to make processing more optimised - previously the cashier gathered all items for the order, including packing fries. Now one person does all drinks for all customers and puts them on a stand, sandwiches seem to work the same as before, though they've more specialised ovens from what I can tell. The person picking the order does the fries I think, depending on customer volume. I know in drive-thru that the person taking orders on the intercom has other duties, that must be a burn-out role, picking orders and doing a customer facing role at the same time (ie in parallel). Wait time to get food is longer IME (I go about once a month), definitely longer than Burger King now when McDo used to be shorter. If you want to pay cash you have to wait for the checkout too, even when there are no customers ahead of you. None of this is to do with automated machines (AFAICT) but it makes jobs more easy to shift to machines, eg prepping drinks and placing them on the stand ready to pack in to individual orders.
tracker1 9y ago
I'm pretty sure plumbing... or for that matter maintaining any systems subject to random wear, water or grease/debris will likely not be outsourced to machines for a very long time.
- originalsimba 9y ago
  I bet it'll be sooner than you think, probably part of the robot revolution that's being constructed in Italy and Japan and so on.

pbhjpbhj 9y ago

In the UK the primary change I can tell from a customer perspective is that they shifted processing of orders to be done by the customer. You can order by app or on the touchscreens in store, or there's a single checkout that is only manned on demand - the cashier has drink prep duties, possibly others too (icecreams I think). This means in my local McDo they've cut the checkouts from 5 down to 1, got rid of probably 2 staff on checkout and pushed that work to customers. They've restructured to make processing more optimised - previously the cashier gathered all items for the order, including packing fries. Now one person does all drinks for all customers and puts them on a stand, sandwiches seem to work the same as before, though they've more specialised ovens from what I can tell. The person picking the order does the fries I think, depending on customer volume. I know in drive-thru that the person taking orders on the intercom has other duties, that must be a burn-out role, picking orders and doing a customer facing role at the same time (ie in parallel). Wait time to get food is longer IME (I go about once a month), definitely longer than Burger King now when McDo used to be shorter. If you want to pay cash you have to wait for the checkout too, even when there are no customers ahead of you. None of this is to do with automated machines (AFAICT) but it makes jobs more easy to shift to machines, eg prepping drinks and placing them on the stand ready to pack in to individual orders.

tracker1 9y ago

I'm pretty sure plumbing... or for that matter maintaining any systems subject to random wear, water or grease/debris will likely not be outsourced to machines for a very long time.

originalsimba 9y ago
I bet it'll be sooner than you think, probably part of the robot revolution that's being constructed in Italy and Japan and so on.