Artificial Intelligence: Poised to Impact Package Printers

In the packaging segment of the printing industry, efficiency is everything. With lead times shrinking and brand owners demanding faster turnarounds, printers and converters have had to assess and implement technological innovations that can increase their pace of production. While advancements in digital printing and automation have moved the industry in the right direction, artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as the next key driver of efficient label and packaging production.

The combined NAPCO Research and PRINTING United Alliance Research teams recently debuted a study, Artificial Intelligence in the Printing Industry: The Journey Begins, which provides an in-depth and comprehensive look at AI adoption and use cases throughout the world of print. The results show that while adoption is in its early stages, printers across all industry segments have their eyes on AI and an increase in AI use is on the horizon.

In fact, 40% of printers surveyed in March 2024 state they were currently using AI in some capacity, noticeably up from 23.4% of respondents as of September 2023 (Figure 1). Additionally, there appears to be increasing recognition among print service providers (PSPs) that AI is becoming a necessity in their businesses. Nearly half (48.4%) of respondents stated they did not expect to be using AI within the next year in September 2023. As of March of 2024, that number had dropped to just under one-third of respondents (32.8%).

Click to Enlarge | Credit: NAPCO Research

AI Applications on the Rise

The study reveals that PSPs are largely beginning their AI journeys by using the technology in content creation activities such as writing for their website, social media, and in marketing collateral (Table 1). While operations ranked third on the list in current AI applications (14.8%), it is the area in which most respondents plan to use AI within the next year (27.2%).

1. In which of the functions below are you currently using AI, and in which do you plan to within one year (March 2024)?

Credit: NAPCO Research

One package printer interviewed in the study reports having implemented AI in multiple operational areas of the company’s workflow. Specifically, the company utilizes AI in file preparation to improve prepress processes, in machine setup with folder/gluers recognizing similar jobs and adjusting their settings accordingly, and in color management.

“What we're trying to do is use machine learning to say, ‘OK, we've run these similar jobs before and now we have a job that maybe, it's the same style but a different size,’” the company president said about implementing AI processes in folder/gluer setups. “And we want to apply the learnings from those previous jobs to this job and let the machine do an initial set up for the first-time job, not just the repeat job.”

With AI in its early stages, PSPs participating in the study also offered the following recommendations:

• Start small but get started.
  Instead of trying to do everything at once, “find a specific thing, whether it's scheduling work and content marketing, and focus on that.” Take a small step such as “adding AI notetaking for meetings” and advance by learning from each small step – “crawl, walk, run.” And rather than wait for the great, accept the good available right now: “I think everyone's waiting for the ‘ta-da’ moment where the machine comes in and waves its magic wand and our business is that much better. But the reality is taking small steps across your organization.”
• Focus on data security.
  Never include proprietary customer data or company data in AI prompts. Public AI models such as ChatGPT “are fine if you're trying to get help with writing an e-mail to a client or something … but don't be putting client-specific information in there,” warns one participant in our study, who adds that his company’s AI-generated content avoids confidentiality risk by “leveraging publicly available information.”
• Don’t forget the human touch.
  Always evaluate AI output for accuracy and appropriateness. A representative comment: “We have a policy that we never let unedited AI information get out to the marketplace without human intervention. Because while AI is highly intelligent, it can be really stupid and not understand what the humans are trying to get it to do. So we always have the final human review.”
• Keep learning.
  Draw on articles, books, blogs, podcasts, seminars, webinars, events, and all other resources from outside as well as inside the printing industry to stay current on AI developments.

Artificial Intelligence in the Printing Industry: The Journey Begins also explores what makes AI revolutionary, what big data is and its role in the revolution, and why some printing companies are not using AI. Download the full report here. And look for future NAPCO/PRINTING United Alliance reports covering topics such as the AI applications printers are using and updating their overall AI expectations, experiences, advances, setbacks, and lessons learned.

Questions or comments? Please contact the research team at Research@Napco.com. We’d be delighted to hear from you.