(Yicai) July 4 -- The Chinese arm of US fast food chain McDonald's has commenced operations at the CNY1.5 billion (USD200 million) industrial park it jointly built with four major suppliers.

Located in Xiaogan, central Hubei province, the industrial park has an annual production capacity of 34,000 tons of meat products, 270 million bread buns, 30 million pastries, and two billion packaging products, for a total annual output value of CNY1.5 billion, according to Hubei Daily.

The industrial park has a 25,000-square-meter high-standard automated warehouse for frozen, refrigerated, and dry goods that can cut logistics time by 90 percent. Leveraging local geographical advantages, the park will become a strategic hub for McDonald's China to further enhance the supply efficiency and stability of restaurants in central and western regions.

The launch of the industrial park marks a significant milestone in the construction of McDonald's China's smart supply chain. In fact, with the new facility, the company can analyze real-time inventory levels and supplier capacities, automatically replenish stocks based on demand forecasts, achieve full visual monitoring of cold chain logistics, and ensure food safety and quality.

"Our business is rapidly growing, as the McDonald's China supply chain network needs to serve an increasing number of restaurants,” said Huang Hongfei, chief financial officer of McDonald's China. "The smart industrial park enables us to continuously enhance supply chain efficiency and resilience, bringing us closer to our customers and communities."

The four McDonald's China suppliers that co-invested in the industrial park are Mexican multinational food company Grupo Bimbo, US multinational corporation Tyson Foods, Chinese logistics service provider XH Supply Chain Management, and Chinese food grade paper packaging firm Shanghai Zidan Food Packaging and Printing.

"In the future, we will continue to deepen our cooperation with supplier partners and accelerate transformation through innovation so that more customers can enjoy the deliciousness and goodness of McDonald's better and faster," Huang noted.

Editor: Futura Costaglione