The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing rapidly in the printing industry, offering users significant added value in terms of transparency, user-friendliness, and time savings. Under the motto ‘Stop searching, start asking,’ Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) is continuing to drive the development of intelligent assistance systems as a logical step toward increasingly automated and data-driven print production.
The company has now expanded its Heidelberg Portal with a new AI feature: the Heidelberg AI Performance Chat. The solution is now available to all Print Shop Analytics customers and makes accessing their company’s production metrics significantly faster and easier. Instead of clicking through reports and dashboards, users can ask their questions directly in natural language – and receive precise answers immediately in a conversational format.
AI-powered real-time analysis of company performance
For about four years, Heidelberg has been helping print shops analyze their production data in real time with Print Shop Analytics. The Insights App required for this is one of the most frequently used applications in the Heidelberg Portal. It aggregates key metrics such as Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), productivity, makeready times, and waste, making production performance transparent. Customizable dashboards, flexible filters, and real-time machine views help users maintain an overview and quickly identify opportunities for optimization.
With the new Performance Chat, Heidelberg is now taking it a step further. The AI analyzes production data on demand and delivers the results in an immediately understandable format – as tables, charts, and with clear explanations. Whether it’s the performance development of individual machines, a comparison of shifts, or deviations over specific time periods: the relevant information is available in just a few seconds.
“With the Heidelberg AI Performance Chat, we’re making the handling of production data significantly more intuitive. Our customers can ask exactly the questions that concern them in their day-to-day work – and get the answers they need right away,” says Jürgen Grimm, head of software at Heidelberg. “It’s intuitive, saves time, and helps make informed decisions faster.”
Pilot users benefit from significant added value
“When I’m preparing for quarterly or shareholder meetings, I don’t just need numbers -I also need context. In the past, that often took several hours. With Heidelberg AI Performance Chat, a single prompt is all it takes today, and I get exactly the information I need – including clear interpretation,” says Marcel Willnow, authorized signatory at LUC Medienhaus in Selm.
And Christoph Affentranger, managing director of the Swiss Printex AG, adds, “I’m using Heidelberg AI more and more often—whether for troubleshooting, calibration, or as a daily support tool. It simply makes my work easier to have a solution like this available.”
The Heidelberg AI Performance Chat is available worldwide in over 18 languages and is fully integrated into the Heidelberg Portal. The new feature addresses key industry challenges such as increasing time pressure, complex production environments, and the growing shortage of skilled workers. The goal is to further simplify data-driven decision-making and sustainably increase efficiency in print production.
