The Print Quality Exchange Specification Moves toward Finalization.    

Alexandria, VA - Idealliance, the leading developer of industry specifications in the media industry and a global industry association of brands, printers, mailers, and technology companies, announces that a draft of the Print Quality eXchange (PQX) Specification has been posted for public comment. According to Idealliance policy, a specification must be posted for 45 days before a final vote of approval may be taken. Comments are welcome from any interested party. Global participation is encouraged.

The Print Quality eXchange Specification was developed by the Idealliance PQX Working Group, along with invited global experts from ISO TC130 WG2. The effort was launched in a response to an urgent requirement coming from Idealliance members engaged in the print quality ecosystem, which is made up of print service providers (printers) and print buyers (brands), along with third party print quality service providers employed by the brands to act as intermediaries to manage print quality on behalf of a brand.

PQX is an XML print-quality exchange specification designed to serve as a standard message format for printers to report print quality to print buyers. Marc Levine of Schawk! and Gary Russell of Phototype, Inc., serve as Co-chairs of the Working Group.

“More than ever, brands need transparency to print quality data that tells them if they are meeting their design intent,” says Levine. “Today, collecting data can be difficult and expensive because different printers use different measurement tools. Tools from different manufacturers do not interconnect and do not report print quality in the same format. In some cases, printers must use multiple sets of tools to service different brands, which have different specifications and requirements, reducing their efficiency and increasing cost.

“By using a standardized exchange format, brands can ask all of their print suppliers to submit print quality data, using their own preferred tools, and then aggregate that data into standardized reports,” Levine continues. “The brand gets the transparency it wants and the ability to collect data against its requirements from a broader set of suppliers. The printer gets to use the tools that it prefers, allowing it to print for lower cost, and enabling it to be more competitive and efficient.”

According to Dianne Kennedy, Idealliance PQX Program Manager and Editor of the PQX Specification, “PQX was developed using an agile software development methodology. We began with a clear statement of scope and by developing design principles to guide us. Over the past year we have developed 47 iterations of the schema, along with data samples. By working directly with programming staff from those interested in implementing PQX, we feel confident that PQX interfaces can be built to make PQX adoption possible across the globe.”

The Public Draft of PQX can be downloaded from the PQX Specification page of the Idealliance website (www.idealliance.org). That page also contains links where interested parties can comment on the Specification. Comment resolution will begin July 18, 2016, so that PQX can be published in the early fall.

For more information, contact Idealliance Senior Vice President Programming & Marketing Steve Bonoff at [email protected] or (952) 896-1908.