By Cassandra Balentine
The world has its eyes on artificial intelligence (AI). There is no doubt the technology will positively effect print on a large scale as it continues to evolve.
AI is reshaping the industry by optimizing operations in a way that enhances efficiency, quality, and productivity. “It analyses and optimizes tasks, it can offer predictive maintenance on equipment, and can enhance quality controls. AI can also enable personalized printing, and automate design and layouts while providing real-time data analytics. By adopting AI, printers will stay ahead of the curve, as well as remain competitive and do more with less,” offers Jamie Reber, product manager, software, Kodak.
Workflow Changes
AI is beginning to transform production print workflows in several impactful ways. “By integrating AI into workflows, print providers can enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and improve the overall quality of their products. AI can assist in automated job routing and scheduling, automating order management tasks such as estimating, quoting, and job tracking; and optimizing the use of input material and files for the print format, ensuring the highest quality output and reducing the need for manual adjustments,” comments Matt Raab, marketing director, Global Product Offerings, Xerox Corporation.
AI can improve workflow automation by further speeding up production processes and reducing manual touchpoints. “This facilitates leaner production, processes orders faster, assists with shipping and other logistics, tracks inventory, automatically places resupply orders, and generally takes on much of the ‘busy work’ that eats away at a printer’s time—and profits,” says Marc Raad, president, Significans Automation.
One of the most tangible benefits of AI, according to Ernie Crawford, president/CEO, Crawford Technologies, is the reduction in unique workflows because fewer workflows means faster production times, fewer errors, simplified operations, and an accelerated onboarding process for new employees. “We recently worked with a print service provider (PSP) who reduced its workflows from 18 down to just three. This transformation not only optimized their operations but also resulted in significant cost savings, while enabling them to onboard new employees much faster. AI isn’t just optimizing print—it’s fundamentally transforming how businesses operate by simplifying processes and improving efficiency across the board.”
“AI applied to workflow management delivers insights that optimize the entire production process. In a multi-tiered manufacturing and purchasing environment, AI can reveal how one factor—like a supply chain delay—affects seemingly unrelated processes. This predictive capability helps companies mitigate risks, improve scheduling, and make better purchasing decisions,” explains Bob Waddington, product line leader for curing and drying, BW Converting.
Tim Bolton, manager, Inkjet Technology, Ricoh USA, believes the right solution also comes from knowing your workflow first, then targeting any current gaps to get the most return on your investment—otherwise you risk applying AI and automation to workflows that don’t need it. “It’s important to note when applying AI, people jump to the conclusion it is a silver bullet solution to improve workflow, and it may replace current workflows all together. That is not always the case. Businesses should instead approach it as a tool to aid in the improvement or enhancement of existing workstreams and see how employees who currently operate the work can give feedback to properly apply the technology.”
AI-Powered Automation
AI-powered automation helps to streamline print workflows. “This technology assists PSPs in making informed decisions on job scheduling, routing, and print settings based on the type of document being printed,” explains Lisa Weese, director, product strategy and business planning marketing, Digital Press Printing Solutions, Canon U.S.A., Inc.
John Henze, VP, sales and marketing, Fiery, sees AI as merely the next step in the trend toward greater automation. “Our Fiery Scribe tool interprets natural language job requests from email and automatically converts them into job tickets. For example, a request like ‘I need 50 booklets with glossy covers’ is instantly processed into a job ticket, with the system aligning job settings based on past similar tasks. This not only saves time but also reduces errors, enabling print shops to manage larger volumes of work more efficiently.”
Raab says AI can also assist with resource optimization—effectively helping to optimize the use of resources such as ink/toner and paper, reducing material waste and lowering operational costs. Quality control systems, powered by AI, can automatically detect and correct some errors in real time, improving quality and reducing waste.”
From an ink on paper perspective, Bolton says AI is making real time on-press decisions around productivity and quality. It can detect color and print defects and solve them as well. “AI is replacing an experienced pressmen skillset that is so hard to come by today and doing it in half the time it used to take.”
John Cusack, product line leader, BW Converting, says AI is significantly enhancing the capabilities of traditional 100 percent inspection systems, offering transformative improvements in efficiency and usability. “At BW Converting, AI is leveraged to improve defect classification, enabling systems to more accurately distinguish true defects from non-defects. This reduces false positives, which can otherwise disrupt workflows and frustrate operators. By minimizing unnecessary alerts, AI streamlines the inspection process, allowing teams to focus on addressing genuine issues.”
“AI is now used by the press to automatically correct print quality issues leading to increased consistency, repeatability, and accuracy while reducing the number of returned jobs. It is also being used in combination with sensing technologies to optimize the performance of the press for printing and finishing, by automatically identifying the paper, its properties and using the optimal settings,” offers Dr. Mark Bohan, director, Color Solutions, Konica Minolta.
AI can also improve press monitoring and make real-time adjustments based on sensor feedback. “This includes detecting and correcting common issues like paper alignment and image quality. These functions can dramatically reduce the amount of time spent on monitoring quality control and reducing waste. “Imagine having a print run automatically notify you when something is out of alignment, then take care of the problem itself without any intervention on your part,” says Raad.
Companies like Komori integrate AI. For many years its been part of its mail operating systems—KHS-AI. “KHS-AI provides a way for the press system to learn what worked best and update itself to perform better on the next job,” notes Lance Martin, VP product marketing, Komori America.
Used in combination with sensing technologies, AI optimizes the performance of the press for printing and finishing by automatically identifying the paper, its properties, and using the optimal settings, adds Dr. Bohan.
Services like finishing are able to provide differentiation and significantly increase the revenue opportunity of print jobs. However, in several applications, Jacquie Perno, business development manager, ACCO Brands, feels the lack of automation and innovation keeps service providers from offering them because they are a labor intensive. “Leveraging AI-based automation can drive significant increased profitability or used another way the market price can be adjusted to increase the attached rate of finishing services to print services.”
Leveraging Data
AI and machine learning (ML) are taking automation to the next level by optimizing data.
“With finishing equipment and workflow solutions getting smarter and smarter, printers were left with piles of data on their operations but no easy way to glean actionable insights from that data. AI and ML provide those actionable insights. For example, AI can calculate the optimal feeding interval on a perfect binder to achieve peak production levels or identify printing errors even earlier in the production process. We anticipate that more finishing manufacturers and workflow software providers will begin to incorporate AI features in their products in the coming years,” predicts Don Dubuque, director of marketing, Standard Finishing Systems.
“By analyzing historical and real-time data, AI can pinpoint opportunities to streamline workflows, reduce bottlenecks, and improve output. The result is a more agile, responsive operation that meets customer demands while maximizing profitability,” says Waddington.
Tom Peire, founder/CEO, Four Pees and chief evangelist, Atomyx, points out that typically, when people get excited about what AI means for the print industry, they are thinking of the generative AI applications that capture so many people’s imaginations. “Indeed, in that regard, AI has already become part of many tools we use—cleaning up images, for example, or offering smarter design templates to web to print customers. However, I think the real potential for AI to transform the print industry lies in its potential to help people turn the business data they have into actionable intelligence that informs strategic decision making.”
An understanding of your business underpinned by data is what enables you to answer questions about everything from pricing and how to most efficiently produce orders, through to what equipment investments will deliver the best return. “And while most print businesses have more than enough data, it is typically siloed and disconnected, which means using it is difficult, time consuming, and sometimes even impossible,” says Peire.
Peire feels the industry has been missing the ability to find all of the data, extract, connect, and visualize it in a way that turns it from information into insight. “I believe that automating this process is where the true value of AI lies for our industry. It won’t be a revolution, but it will be revolutionary in the way it empowers business leaders with information.”
Servicing and Maintenance
AI technology also plays a pivotal role in the servicing of equipment, helping to not only provide technical know-how to technicians faster but also enable predictive maintenance.
“Automation can be implemented from pre-print all the way through post-print by implementing different software solutions but, reducing equipment downtime can also assist with workflow. Many equipment manufacturers, like Canon, are embedding AI algorithms to monitor the condition of printing machinery and help in detecting potential issues. Additionally, AI can facilitate equipment manufacturers in collecting data from service representatives on repairs and problem resolution and recording it in an AI-powered database,” says Weese.
“AI functionality concepts are in development for diagnosing print problems, automating maintenance procedures, moving jobs from system to system, and more,” offers Martin.
“Predictive maintenance can alert a customer and their service team of a potential issue before it’s come to fruition thus allowing the service team to work with the customer around production print schedules to get the machine in working order quicker and reducing the likelihood of the equipment going down in the middle of a production run,” says Weese.
AI’s ability to manage and interpret data is important here as well. “Through tools like BW Converting’s Accelerate Monitoring, manufacturers gather massive amounts of data, including production totals, machine faults, and maintenance logs. AI processes this data to identify trends, predict issues, and recommend solutions,” offers Waddington.
For example, Waddington says an AI system might flag subtle torque variations in a specific tension zone, prompting operators to replace a motor before it fails. Or it might analyze frequent downtime events and suggest cleaning a sensor to prevent further stops. “By enabling these proactive measures, AI not only reduces downtime but also improves overall machine output and return on investment.”
AI is also used for finishing is self diagnosis of problems and issues with equipment. “Customers can self diagnose breakdowns by using AI and data to provide the root cause of the problem and remedy for fixing such as replacement of part or suggestion to improve a quality issue,” shares Carlos Martins, head solutions management, Muller Martini North America.
Fundamental Changes
AI is already making an enormous impact on the print industry, revolutionizing traditional practices and introducing new, more efficient solutions. “AI offers huge opportunities to optimize production processes. Because AI can ‘see,’ it can read press proofs, accept web to print orders, spot issues with client artwork at the prepress stage, and so on. AI can also ‘drive.’ It can improve shop floor efficiency, as already seen by its role in modern robotics, especially in the publishing, packaging print, and wide format sectors,” outlines Raad.
He says AI-assisted “smart” layouts help minimize waste by automatically maximizing the capacity of each sheet. AI-enabled systems are able to quickly calculate the best use of space, delivering solutions for even the most complex and irregular layouts.
Further, the combination of AI-assisted layout and AI-based automated die-cutting machines now allows customers to create their own designs, which also means more competitive pricing and reduced overhead. “Using precise, error-free, AI-based die-cutting calculations, printers experience fewer ‘fixes’ and a vastly improved client experience, offers Raad.
Raad adds that AI can take applications to new levels. For example, as more personal information about a direct mail recipient is fed into an AI system, personalization can reach bold new heights—even to the point of suggesting which day of the week the targeted piece should arrive at the prospect’s home to elicit the best response, and which formats are likely to drive the most sales.
The Future is Now
The potential for AI is huge in the print industry. Starting at prepress it aids in reducing manual tasks and improving consistency and quality. It has the capability to improve data-driven decision making across the board, and predict maintenance issues to reduce downtime.
While some technologies have utilized AI for years, it is an evolving technology that is sure to have a monumental impact on the future of print.
Apr2025, DPS Magazine
