Layout Design of McDonald’s

Introduction
Rooted in Ray Kroc’s founding principles of Quality, Service, Cleanliness & Value
(Q.S.C.&V.), McDonald’s management has always believed in being a leader in issues that
affect their customers. This philosophy is evident in McDonald’s involvement in various
community projects regarding education, health care, medical research, and rehabilitation
facilities. These activities help the corporation to extend their image beyond fun and
entertainment into social responsibility. However, in the late 1980s, McDonald’s began to
face criticism for its environmental policies, especially those surrounding polystyrene
clamshell containers. In 1987, McDonald’s replaced CFCs, the blowing agent used in
clamshell production, with weaker HCFC-22’s after facing public criticism that CFC usage
was contributing to ozone depletion. But this change was not enough for many grass-roots
environmental groups that, led by the Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste (CCHW),
united in establishing a “Ronald McToxic Campaign” consisting of restaurant picketers and
an organized effort to mail clamshells back to Oak Brook headquarters. When McDonald’s
later tested trash-to-energy on-site incinerators, CCHW quickly named the project “McPuff.”
By 1989, school children, the backbone of McDonald’s customer base, founded a group
called “Kids against Polystyrene.” Although they were not the only fast-food restaurant
facing criticism for disposable packaging, McDonald’s could not afford to let this situation
escalate. One of their primary competitors, Burger King, was winning praise for its
paperboard containers, which were claimed by some to be biodegradable.

Company Background

McDonald’s Corporation grew from a single drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino,

California, in 1948, to the largest food-service organization in the world. In 1991,
McDonald’s owned $13 billion of the $93 billion fast-food industry, operating 12,400
restaurants in 59 countries including company-owned restaurants, franchisees, and joint
ventures. In the U.S. alone, more than 18 million people visit a McDonald’s daily.

McDonald’s management intends to continue growing by:

1) Maximizing sales and profits in existing restaurants,
2) Adding new restaurants, and
3) Improving international profitability.

Ray Kroc based his empire on the fundamental principles of Quality, Service, Cleanliness,
and Value (Q, S, and C&V) and developed tangible goals and specific operating practices to
carry out his vision. An extensive team of field auditors monitor these practices, which are
communicated to employees through continuing education that includes videotaped messages
from Kroc himself. These values were integrated into McDonald’s three strategic priorities
for 1991.

In all its restaurants around the globe, there are a number of operations that has a relationship
with the overall strategy of the organisation. Let us know discuss the key operations decisions
and its relationship with the strategy.

LOCATION PLANNING

Location planning is one of the important operations that every organisation carries out and it
is essentially one of the critical success factors for any organisation. Success or failure of any
organisation may well depend on the location where it is situated. Therefore it is very
important for businesses to choose an ideal location. Businesses may choose location on the
basis of various factors such as proximity to the source of raw material, cost-effectiveness,
proximity to customers or suppliers, competition in the area, transportation availability and
cost, availability of resources, and availability of right labour.

McDonalds Restaurants also have to plan their location in such a way so that maximum
customers visit their restaurants. Therefore McDonalds prefer locationssuch that it can have
large customer base, transport access and availability of parking space. Moreover it also
prefers location that is suitable for raw material delivery that is availability of ample space for
deliveries of raw material.

LAYOUT DESIGN:

Layout is the arrangement of facility to provide working, service and reception, storage and
administrative areas. The layout is designed by traditional techniques using templates, scale
plans, string diagrams, and travel charting as they have been proved as low-cost methods
of achieving either optimal or near optimal layout plans. Poor layouts can greatly reduce the
overall capacity and overall productivity. Therefore care must be taken by organisation when
designing layout.

In McDonalds Restaurant also layout designing is a very important operation. A proper

layout of the equipments in the kitchen is very essential to ensure preparation of quality food
in less time. It also designs its layout keeping in mind the health and safety issues. It also
designs layout in such a way that needs of supervision is minimised. Another factor that is
considered is the cost of production which also depends on the layout.

Kitchen Layout
A kitchen layout is provided which includes a plurality of work areas and devices arranged to
promote efficient cooking and handling. The kitchen includes a food cooking area for
cooking food items which require further processing and assembly into a finished product.
The food cooking area contains various food cooking devices, such as a grill, an oven or a
fryer. A cooked-food assembly area containing an assembly area is spaced apart from the
food cooking area. The cooked food items are assembled into finished products within the
cooked-food assembly area in response to customer orders. A cooked-food buffer area is
provided intermediate the food cooking area and the cooked-food assembly area and
proximally located to both the food cooking area and the cooked-food assembly area. The
cooked-food buffer area contains a cooked-food buffer device for holding a supply of cooked
food items at elevated temperature for extended periods of time while maintaining the taste,
texture and appearance of the food items prior to subsequent processing and assembly. The
cooked-food buffer device includes a holding cabinet having a food inlet, a food outlet and an
interior for holding food items. The holding cabinet is positioned within the buffer area such
that the food inlet provides a passageway from the food cooking area to the interior of the
device and the food outlet provides a passageway from the interior of the device to the
assembly area.
After taking the order at the counter

Step1: The order is displayed on the video screen in the kitchen, which is read by the worker
in the kitchen.

Step2: As per the order the flow of the buns takes place from the extreme end where the
buns are placed to the toaster (new). The new toaster machine toasts the bun for 11
seconds at 545 degrees.

Step3: The various condiments at(room temperature) are placed or assembled on the buns.

Step4: From the heated cabinets grilled patties are taken and assembled on the bun and the
wrapped. which is done in 14 secs.

Step5: The completely assembled bun is placed on the heated pad from where the order is
to be picked up quickly.

The consumer is serviced within 45 secs.