Case Study: McDonald's achieves safer, faster Happy Meal toy development and reduced choking risk with 3D Systems' Geomagic Freeform

Creata Promotion Protects Lives and Saves Time with Freeform Virtual Gauge

Creata Promotion, a toy design partner for McDonald's Happy Meals, faced the challenge of meeting McDonald’s stringent safety requirements — including a 1.5‑inch choking gauge test stricter than U.S. federal standards — while accelerating design cycles and avoiding costly physical prototypes. They needed a fast, reliable way to validate toy designs for potential choking hazards early in the process.

Using Geomagic Freeform, Creata ran virtual gauge tests in minutes, discovered that the original "Squirt" turtle head would pass through the gauge, and immediately redesigned the head to prevent entry. The digital workflow eliminated many physical prototypes, enabled concurrent reviews across partners, saved weeks in development time, reduced iterations and costs, and delivered a safer, market‑ready toy praised by McDonald’s safety team.

McDonald's

Peter Schaefer

Corporate Vice President, Safety and Security