Thoughts on McDonalds

McDonald's has made of its operations a clear competitive advantage over the competition, serving as a spearhead that many others have attempted to copy, but only to enter a market where McDonalds has already taken the biggest share.

Over the past half century, McDonalds has achieved significant milestones, even when they first started. The introduction of a very standardized offer of products was the first, and in the years to come, a recurring milestone. One of the key significant operations strategies of the company was having a defined procedure for the preparation of each piece of the menu, including burgers, milkshakes and fries. Hence, the customer experience in any store would be the same.

In addition, McDonalds also established a close relationship with its franchisees. They shifted their mindset in order to get profits with the success of the franchise instead of just by charging fees. In this same line, the company would monitor very closely and actively train the franchisees, in its quest for standard highest quality products across every outlet.

Furthermore, they have been proactive in the creation of new technology, although simple as it may appear, to enhance the efficiency of their operations. For instance, developing a funnel shaped scoop to place the fries in the right place and correctly aligned. Also, they developed an oven that could cook the burger meat from both sides at once, therefore reducing overall lead time. They invested in scientific methods to improve the quality of their products, like when evaluating the optimal temperature for frying potatoes and from there, the development a better fryer that could reproduce the quality every time.

Another key operational development was the introduction of breakfast and dinner, which allowed the company to include more variety of products and this way capture more of the demand. It also let the stores to be open since early in the day and up to very late in the