There’s no doubt about it: Artificial intelligence has permeated the printing and packaging industry. It touches everything from customer communications and estimating to workflow automation and beyond.
According to “AI Adoption in the Printing Industry: From Curiosity to Competitive Advantage,” an Alliance Insights report released at the 2025 PRINTING United Expo, 42% of companies surveyed think businesses that don’t use AI will not survive.
But using AI and using AI effectively are different. It takes a concerted effort to reap the benefits of AI.
Compared with those falling behind, leaders in AI adoption have implemented AI roadmaps at a higher rate (9% versus 46%). They are more likely to have assigned responsibility for AI efforts to someone on their team (51% versus 91%).
In a presentation at the 2025 Expo, Lisa Cross, principal analyst at Alliance Insights, shared eight key recommendations from 16 printing industry executives interviewed for the report.
1. Start With a Purpose
The leading piece of advice was to identify one or two high-impact pain points you’d like to address using AI and focus on that first.
“Pick one, start small, rather than trying to do everything at once,” Cross said. “Because what happens when you try to do everything at once? … Nothing! Absolutely nothing happens when you try to do too many things at once.”
Successfully implementing AI in small ways builds organizational confidence in the tool, opening the door to more opportunities for effective AI use down the road.
However, don’t get caught up in doing everything exactly right from the get-go. As the president and owner of a sign and graphics business shared with Alliance Insights: “Don’t wait for perfect — start with one task and learn as you go.”
Read this full article on Printing Impressions, a publication of PRINTING United Alliance, ASI’s strategic partner.
