McDonald’s China unit has partnered with Cainiao, Alibaba Group Holding’s logistics business, to improve supply chain efficiency using radio frequency identification (RFID) chips and other technologies, reports the South China Morning Post. Under a deal signed on Thursday, McDonald’s China will deploy Cainiao’s RFID technology in its supply chain with built-in tags on food packages, allowing the company to track products from factories to restaurants, according to a statement by the Hangzhou-based logistics firm.
A trial project of the RFID technology helped reduce the time needed for stocktaking each day from 1 hour to 15 minutes for restaurants while improving the accuracy of inventory data by 30%, according to the statement.
RFID is a third-generation identification technology, after bar codes and QR codes, and has been widely adopted in supply chain tracking. With a built-in microchip, data is transmitted through radio frequency signals.