Graphic Industry Congress in Cuenca: When AI Reaches a Business With Decades of Craft

On September 24 the XX National Congress of the Ecuadorian Graphic Industry kicked off in Cuenca, running through September 26. According to Diario El Mercurio, it is organized by the Guayas Graphic Industry Chamber (CIGG) under the motto "One single industry" ("Una sola industria"), at the Mall del Río Convention Center and the Sheraton Hotel, with business owners, designers, suppliers, students and trade representatives from different cities. It is news from a traditional sector, and that is exactly why it matters: it shows how artificial intelligence reaches businesses that were not born digital.

What is on the table

The agenda combines talks, training sessions and networking around artificial intelligence, innovation, financing, business growth and succession in family companies. Gabriela Velásquez, CIGG's executive director, put it this way: "The agenda includes topics such as artificial intelligence, innovation, financing", and on why to keep pushing innovation she was blunt: "Any company that does not innovate has scarce opportunities." According to the congress coverage, the AI applications under discussion aim to improve the sector's processes, quality and response times.

In parallel, the congress includes the XVIII Best of Ecuadorian Print competition, with 13 categories plus an Excellence Award, which evaluated work produced between January 2025 and August 2026 and whose awards gala takes place on September 25.

Why it matters beyond the print shop

Swap "graphic industry" for any business with decades of craft — workshops, distributors, retailers, agribusiness — and the challenge is the same: how to adopt technology without losing what makes the business good. Three lessons follow from the kind of topics being discussed:

• AI applies first where there are repetitive processes. Quotes, order tracking, handling WhatsApp inquiries and invoicing are tasks that consume hours and can be automated without touching the craft itself.
• Quality and response time are the metric. A customer who waits two days for a quote buys elsewhere. Answering in minutes, at any hour, is a concrete, measurable advantage.
• Succession is also a technology topic. That generational handover in family companies appears on the agenda is no accident: documented processes and orderly systems make a business inheritable, not just the owner who "carries everything in their head."

The starting point almost nobody does

Before buying any AI tool, it helps to do a simple exercise: for one week, write down which tasks repeat every day, how long they take and who does them. That inventory usually shows that two or three tasks concentrate most of the lost time, and that the fastest return is there — not in the flashiest technology. As we noted when discussing the digital maturity of Ecuadorian companies, order matters: first organize and measure, then automate.

How We Approach It at SimCodec

At SimCodec we work with businesses across all sectors, including those that have operated the traditional way for years. We start by understanding the craft and the process, and only then propose technology: voice, WhatsApp and Telegram AI agents that answer and take orders, SRI electronic invoicing automation, custom software to organize inventory and production, and the network, cabling and video surveillance infrastructure that keeps everything running.

If your business is one that has been running for decades and you want to start adding AI without complications, write to us or call our assistant Cyntia at +593 99 726 6838. We start with a no-cost, no-commitment assessment.