Confectionery and pet food giant Mars Inc is spending $200 million to upgrade its Australian factories, partly with robots and artificial intelligence, to try to revive plateauing sales and profit growth as the soaring cost of diesel squeezes the company’s margins.

The company’s main investment is $113 million on its Wodonga pet food factory on the Victoria-NSW border, with new facilities for the production of pouches of cat food under the Whiskas and Dine brands, including $3 million spent on 10 mobile robots.

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