McDonald’s China to trial RFID chip technology to improve supply chain

This will cut down the time needed for stocktaking from one hour to 15 minutes.

McDonald’s China has partnered with Alibaba’s logistic business arm Cainiao to use radio frequency identification (RFID) chips and other technology to improve its supply chain, a report by the South China Morning Post said.

With Cainiao’s solutions, McDonald’s China will be able to install RFID technology in its supply chain allowing them to tag food packages to monitor them from factories to restaurants.

The RFID technology will also reduce stocktaking from one hour to 15 minutes. The solution is also estimated to improve inventory data by 30%.

Last year, McDonald’s increased its stake in its China business from 20% to 48% after buying back shares owned by global investment firm Carlyle. The CITIC Consortium, through its equity affiliate CITIC Capital, remains the controlling shareholder of the company, owning 52%.