Business mogul and head of the Visy packaging giant Anthony Pratt has indicated he is looking to robots and artificial intelligence, with the company aiming to have fully automated corrugated factory warehouses.

Addressing the Amazon Webster Summit in Sydney, Pratt says Visy will have a factory that will use driverless robots, with no employees present. It remains unclear how soon and where the change will take place, but Pratt has said that the future of manufacturing in Australia will lie in automation.

On top of automation, Pratt has also revealed the company is looking to integrate sensors into its packaging for Amazon, with boxes that will be able to monitor the contents, location, temperature.

[Related: Visy withdraws from Vic recycling]

Visy has previously supplied the ecommerce giant with custom made packaging to keep food cooler for its online grocery shopping service in the US, AmazonFresh.

In addition, Visy is trialling artificial intelligence to reduce energy usage, machine learning to help with sales and OH&S data.

Other Australian companies in the industry are adopting robots in their print processes, with Melbourne printers Southern Colour automating its platemaking line, and Active Display Group installing flatbed presses with robot systems in place.

Visy has sold boxes to Amazon in the US since 1999, and has been supplying boxes to the ecommerce giant since it launched in Australia last year.

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