@cicerone imposter,
Do you have any idea how many different automated things I have seen at McD's?
They have automatic drink dispensors, they fill a bin with the different size cups and the machine does the rest. Picks the proper size, fills with ice or not and then fills the cup with the proper beverage. I have seen the automated drink machine around for at least the last 5 years.
They have automatic fry cookers. Someone fills the bin with fries and the machine does the rest. It moves the fry basket under the bin, gets the proper amount of fries added, then places it in the fryer, can pull it out and shake it around to be placed back into the fryer to complete. It then dumps the fries in a another bin, adds the salt. When it dumps the fries it puts the fry basket back into line near the frozen fry bin to do it all over again. They only require a person for 2 steps in the whole fry process. Fill the frozen fry basket and fill the fries into the serving containers. I saw my first automated fry machine in a small McD's back in the mid 90's. It's been 20 years since then.
Fast food work doesn't require a lot of skill. There is no guessing in the process as you have indicated in your shared article. The process is so controlled to the point where I'm sure they are working on a machine that makes the burgers. At that point it would only require a person to hand the food over.
How many people do you think would loose jobs if cashier, fry cooker and drink server are all automated? I saw an fully automated pizza vending machine on How do they do it, that makes the pizza's fresh. Dough, sauce, cheese, meats and the cooking. No human intervention except to keep the machine stocked with "fresh" toppings.
UGLY!
