Your Weekly Dose of AI Impact in Print [Week 22, 2025]
👋 Welcome back to AI Print Wire, your trusted source for real, relevant, and practical AI stories in commercial print. This week, we spotlight real-world rollouts — from smarter estimating to AI-driven color matching — and how the big players are approaching automation without leaving smaller shops behind.
If you’ve been wondering when AI in print would move from pitch decks to pressrooms, the answer is: right now.
📢 This Week in AI Print Wire:
X-Rite + Esko tackle automated color matching
AI use cases hit the stage in Canada’s print panel
Heidelberg’s 175th: a human-centered AI roadmap
Data-first print ops are winning more work
Print ePS acquires Avanti to power smarter quoting
📰 Top 5 Headlines This Week
1. X-Rite and Esko Team Up on AI-Powered Color Matching for Packaging
Summary:
At EskoWorld 2025, X-Rite and Esko launched a collaboration to integrate AI into digital packaging color workflows. Their combined solution analyzes and predicts color accuracy in real time, making brand color approvals faster, and production more consistent. The AI-driven color management system is designed to learn from previous jobs and improve match rates across substrates.
Key takeaways:
AI now adjusts color output in real time for packaging workflows
Reduces approval cycles and brand color mismatches
Designed to support wide-format and digital packaging printers
Why It Matters:
For packaging printers, speed and color fidelity are essential. This innovation offers both — while reducing waste and approval delays. It’s a strong example of AI providing value in measurable ways: cost savings, less rework, and a faster path to market.
2. AI in Print: Canada’s Industry Panel Weighs In
Summary:
Sign Media Canada brought together leading voices to discuss AI's current and future impact on the print industry. The panel shared practical insights from layout planning to quoting and prepress. Panelists also emphasized the importance of realistic expectations and thoughtful implementation — not just flashy tech.
Key takeaways:
AI helps most in estimating, layout, and prepress optimization
Panel emphasized staff involvement in AI adoption
Change management is just as critical as the tools
Why It Matters:
AI adoption doesn’t have to be intimidating — and this panel proved it. Hearing directly from shop owners and tech experts makes it clear: you don’t need to be “AI-first,” but you do need to be AI-aware. For SMEs, the message is simple: start where the payoff is real.
3. Heidelberg at 175: A Vision for Human-First AI in the Pressroom
Summary:
Celebrating 175 years in the industry, Heidelberg laid out its vision for a smarter, AI-augmented pressroom. The focus is on supportive automation — predictive maintenance, automated scheduling, and operator guidance systems — to boost output and reliability while empowering skilled press operators.
Key takeaways:
AI-driven scheduling and performance coaching now part of Prinect
Focused on enhancing human decision-making, not replacing it
Emphasizes real-time diagnostics to cut downtime
Why It Matters:
AI shouldn’t mean losing control — it should help printers make better decisions. Heidelberg’s “human-first” message is important for SMEs who fear being left behind. It’s an example of how legacy brands can evolve without alienating their workforce.
4. The Future of Print is Data-Driven — and AI-Ready
Summary:
A feature from Printing Impressions highlights how the commercial print world is evolving: from reactive job shops to proactive, data-first enterprises. The piece explores how structured data is the foundation for any AI-enabled workflow — especially in job estimation, scheduling, and press optimization.
Key takeaways:
AI needs structured, accessible data to deliver real value
Print shops are turning to analytics to monitor bottlenecks
MIS platforms are becoming more integrated and predictive
Why It Matters:
You can’t automate chaos. Shops embracing data as a strategic asset are the ones gaining speed and margin. For SMEs, the takeaway is clear: treat your MIS like your press — invest in it, maintain it, and it will pay dividends when paired with AI.
5. Print ePS Acquires Avanti from Ricoh to Power AI Estimating
Summary:
Print ePS acquired the Avanti MIS platform from Ricoh, strengthening its lineup of AI-ready job management and quoting tools. Avanti’s estimating and scheduling tools will now be enhanced with predictive analytics, helping printers forecast capacity, profitability, and turnaround time more accurately.
Key takeaways:
Predictive quoting tools will reduce estimating errors
AI will assess job profitability and production feasibility
Avanti users gain access to more integrated automation
Why It Matters:
In a market where speed = sales, accurate quoting is a growth driver. This acquisition means SMEs using Avanti may soon benefit from smarter, real-time quoting suggestions based on their actual shop floor data. The line between estimating and automation just got thinner.
🎯 This Week’s Strategic Takeaway
Color, quoting, and capacity — that’s your AI entry point.
The print industry’s AI transformation isn’t about sci-fi futures. It’s about streamlining the bottlenecks that cost you time and money today. Start with where you lose the most — inaccurate estimates, brand color rework, or unbalanced schedules — and build from there.
❌ This Week’s Noise
“The print industry is too small for AI to matter.”
Actually, the opposite is true. Print shops — especially smaller ones — stand to benefit most from automation that trims waste, speeds output, and keeps teams focused on high-value work.
📅 What’s Coming Up
Print Matters for the Future 2025 – June 13 – Zürich, Switzerland
Organized by Intergraf, this one-day summit focuses on the future of print in a digital-first world. Expect conversations around AI, media regulation, sustainability, and automation in European print and publishing.
🧠 Smarter Every Week
💡 “Good data is your best AI hire — start collecting and labeling it like it’s gold.”
Thanks for tuning in to AI Print Wire – Week 22!
We’ll be back next Friday with more tools, takeaways, and real-world automation updates — without the buzzword fluff.
Until then, print smarter. 🧱✨