Stop Building Islands of Automation! · Pat McGrew · FLOW 2026
You may have automated parts of your printing business. But have you actually automated your workflow?
Pat McGrew takes us behind the scenes at FLOW 2026 in Bad Hersfeld, Germany, as exhibitors prepare for three days dedicated to one of the printing industry’s biggest challenges: connecting everything.
From MIS and ERP systems to PDF processing, data capture, workflow automation, and AI, the technologies are already available. The challenge is understanding what they can do, how they connect, and how to turn individual solutions into a truly integrated production environment.
With companies including SpencerMetrics, OFS, Ultimate Tech, Atomyx, Ctrl-S, and many more, FLOW brings together specialists who can help printers identify inefficiencies, solve everyday production challenges, and discover opportunities they may not even know exist.
Hosted inside Probo’s impressive print manufacturing facility, FLOW is about real applications, real demonstrations, and practical solutions rather than promises.
As Pat points out, automation can easily become a collection of disconnected islands — even when AI and agentic technologies are involved. The real opportunity is to connect those islands into one efficient, intelligent production flow.
Welcome to FLOW 2026. Let’s connect everything!
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Tue November 3rd
From a Simple Prompt to a Finished Print Prod...
What if creating an entirely new personalized print product could start with a simple sentence rather than hours of design, programming, and complicated template development? Axel Marciniak from Printess introduces a new approach to web-to-print, where artificial intelligence does far more than generate attractive images. With the Printess AI Assistant, natural language can be used to create editable designs, product templates, personalization options, and even the logic behind complex web-to-print applications. For printing companies, the implications could be significant. Faster product development, fewer technical barriers, and the ability to offer customers increasingly sophisticated personalization without requiring extensive programming expertise. As the printing industry moves toward connected workflows, e-commerce, and intelligent automation, Printess demonstrates how AI could change not only the way products are designed, but also how they are created, sold, and produced. An interesting look at what happens when artificial intelligence becomes an active part of the print production ecosystem.