Workflow Innovations—PQX (Print Quality Exchange)

Idealliance understands that productivity and efficiency are at the center of an effective workflow. We have created standards-based, automatable processes, enabling every part of the print supply chain to change, grow, and prosper. Over many decades, as both disrupter and architect, Idealliance has reimagined future workflows, shaping the way our supply chain partners operate. This series explores the history of many of those workflow innovations.

What is PQX?

PQX (Print Quality Exchange)

Brands wish to track the print quality of their suppliers over time and have implemented complex databases to do so. But today Brands find it difficult and expensive to track print quality because printers use different measurement tools and send print quality reports to the Brand in a wide variety of formats that Brands cannot directly employ in their quality tracking systems. Brands spend significant time and resources importing data from their printer’s reporting format into quality databases, increasing the cost of print.

In 2015, Brands brought this problem to Idealliance; seeking a way to streamline the reporting and tracking process. A Print Properties Committee effort was initiated to design a way to automate print quality reporting. The Idealliance Print Quality eXchange (PQX) Specification was developed to solve this problem by providing a standard message format for printers to report print quality to Brands. 

As interest in this project grew globally, PQX development was transitioned into ISO and today this standard print quality reporting schema, published as ISO 20616-2, is being employed to streamline print quality workflows around the globe.