A few years ago, estimating a complex print job meant endless spreadsheets, cross-checking SKUs and chasing down missing specs. Too often, the process would eat up hours or even days. Steve Metcalf has seen it play out countless times.
But things are different these days. Now, Metcalf, co-founder and CEO at Imagine AI Live, says you can build a lightweight artificial intelligence (AI) app in under an hour that takes the client’s email and attachments, reasons through all the requirements and returns a highly accurate estimate before your coffee gets cold.
Metcalf spends his days working with printing and converting companies that are not only finding AI useful, but transformational—shaving hours from workflows, customizing customer-facing processes and tackling jobs that once required teams of specialists. From artwork intake and proofing to production scheduling, AI is giving printers the ability to create solutions in days or even hours, without software engineers or massive budgets.
He recalls a story a printing company shared with him about an RFP it received from a large big box home goods store. The sheer number of SKUs (in this case, it was for in-store display signage) was overwhelming. The time alone to analyze and prepare the quote seemed daunting to fathom. To make it worse, each client has a different format. There is no standard, but the information is all there when you look closely.
“If AI stopped evolving today, it would take the print industry a decade to fully harness what’s already here. But it’s not stopping. Every month brings capabilities that used to take years to develop.”
– Steve Metcalf, Co-founder/CEO, Imagine AI Live
“It’s starting to feel like magic compared to the old way,” Metcalf says. “Today’s LLMs (Large Language Models) are so good at reasoning on complex information—not just on unstructured text like emails, but data contained in spreadsheets, images, drawings, annotations and pictures. A quick prototype and some prompting showed that we could solve for this relatively easily with the help of AI automation.”
For example, Imagine AI Live created an app that allows a print service provider to copy and paste the contents of the client’s email, upload attachments and then reason about the type of work, returning estimates that are highly accurate. While Metcalf says the process still requires a human-in-the-loop step to understand the output results, the AI by itself—with just a little bit of instruction and a lot of context—is an amazing asset. “The app we built (with the help of an AI coding agent) can be shared with the printers’ client team and continuously improved upon.”
Today, AI isn’t just another buzzword; it is becoming the connective tissue between customer requests, production schedules and finished goods. For some printers, it is a targeted fix—one that can streamline order entry or catch prepress errors before they hit the bindery. For others, it is a wholesale reimagining of how a print business operates from end to end.
One of the first patterns Metcalf noticed in AI adoption was how ripe sales, marketing, estimating, and client work intake were for automation and intelligence. “In the past, like for artwork intake, a printer might need a specialist or costly software to clean up client files, upscale images or fix odd formatting. Now, with AI-powered tools, they can spin up a customized solution in days—or even hours—without writing a line of code.”
AI-driven speed also extends to production scheduling on the print floor, where last-minute changes, rush jobs, machine downtime can throw a wrench into any process. “This is tailor-made for AI,” Metcalf says. “Modern large language models thrive on complexity and can act as a master scheduler on demand, optimizing a job list in minutes.”
Imagine AI Live also equips print service providers with AI-driven marketing tools. Its product AdLegends.ai allows them to white-label creative services for clients who might otherwise struggle to find talent. “If AI stopped evolving today, it would take the print industry a decade to fully harness what’s already here,” Metcalf says. “But it’s not stopping. Every month brings capabilities that used to take years to develop.”
AI in Action on the Production Floor
Alan Davis has taken a practical, step-by-step approach to AI adoption—starting in the front office and expanding into production. The results have been dramatic. Over the past few years, the president of the BPI Media Group has seen his company’s revenue double with the same number of front-office staff. The credit goes to AI tools in order entry, prepress, marketing and the company’s management system.
Perhaps the biggest game-changer is its fully integrated prepress process. When a project comes in, the system preflights the files, fixes common issues and sends a digital proof to the sales team or customer in under three minutes. If the client approves, the files move directly to digital presses—no human touch required.
BPI also is experimenting with AI in predictive maintenance. The first step included loading all of its equipment manuals into a custom ChatGPT instance. Now, when a machine acts up, staff can type in the problem and get pinpointed instructions from the manual in seconds.
“It’s not replacing technicians, but it’s helping us troubleshoot faster,” Davis says. “This has increased our productivity, reduced errors and reduced overtime in our bindery by not losing days in prepress with bad files. The system will also push files to digital devices without human touch once the proof is approved by the client.”
“AI is not just about fixing bottlenecks—it’s about reimagining what the workflow could be… AI is always a topic and will continue to be a topic in these meetings.”
– Alan Davis, President, BPI Media Group
The benefits ripple outward to customers, who for their part get quicker turnarounds, fewer mistakes and next-day billing. Davis also believes in the potential the technology has in AI-enhanced purchasing, where the system would compare purchase orders to invoices, flag discrepancies and spot opportunities for bulk buying.
On the sales side, he’s evaluating CRM platforms with AI that can track KPIs, personalize outreach, and automate customer communication. “We have a monthly automation meeting to look for processes we can streamline,” Davis says. “AI is always on the agenda, because the opportunities keep multiplying.”
Davis says his team’s exposure to AI has shifted their thinking from one-off problem-solving to continuous improvement. “AI is not just about fixing bottlenecks—it’s about reimagining what the workflow could be. AI will continue to be a ongoing topic in all of our meetings.”
From a financial standpoint, BPI is looking to leverage its personal ChatGPT account to streamline day-to-day tasks, financial planning and analysis processes. The BPI team also is active in attending webinars, training and tradeshows. “This gives us a better understanding of what we can do with AI as we implement it into other aspects of our business,” Davis says.
In an industry that has weathered its share of technological disruption, AI may be the disruption that keeps on giving. Not a single technology or piece of equipment, AI is a technology with the capability to be applied anywhere, at any time.
