It’s been more than a year since Print Quality eXchange (PQX) was ratified as ISO 20616-2.
This important new standard makes print quality control technologies more accessible to print suppliers. More importantly, it’s the next chapter in the evolution of brand packaging quality control programs.
Maintaining color consistency on shelf is more challenging than ever, as the range of products and complexity of packaging have increased exponentially. Print quality programs work to address this by embracing an objective methodology to evaluate packaging quality.
What Is PQX?
PQX establishes a common way to communicate print quality reporting across the print supply chain from printers to brand owners. It enables efficient communication of color data by leveraging a standardized file format that allows printers to share print quality data with their brands.
All artwork courtesy of X-Rite
The data can be reported to and scored by a brand owner against their required reporting metrics. Like PQX, but in reverse, the Print Requirements eXchange (PRX), ISO 20616-1, provides a standardized file format that allows brands to communicate print specification data to the printer.
As both brands and print suppliers embrace Industry 4.0 and digital workflows, PQX and PRX can play a part in integrating data communications used across packaging design, production and quality control. The goal is to encourage brands and print supply partners to leverage digital technologies to streamline communication and workflows.
With a common way to communicate print specifications (expectations) and report on quality (results), brands can easily share print requirements and bring more print suppliers into their programs. Printers have the opportunity to grow their business and support multiple brand print quality programs using existing technology investments. Further, printers can build a stronger foundation of trust with their customers in the quality of work they deliver.
Evolution of PQX
For years, the process to ensure quality and accuracy in packaging print relied heavily on proofing and physical samples. At its simplest, a designer creates a concept, then creates proofs and samples to simulate how a package will look once manufactured. It is a manual process that involves ink and substrate manufacturers, agencies, and packaging converters managing an unwieldy number of variables to adhere to color fidelity once a package is manufactured.
Getting the color “right” becomes even more complex for brands who are trying to achieve consistency across multiple converters, pack types and materials. The sample and proofing process is burdensome and cost prohibitive, as the requirements continue to expand. Costs can quickly add up when considering the expense to produce, ship, evaluate, and store hundreds and thousands of print proofs and samples.
The solution to effectively manage color in packaging lies in the ability to digitize print quality programs. The introduction of digital solutions 10 to 15 years ago—such as digital color libraries, quality control software, automation and data analytics—offered to improve the efficiency and accuracy of print packaging.
The effort to digitize print quality reporting began in earnest when brands like Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Pepsi introduced objective color measurement in print quality assessment. It was prompted by concerns about color consistency on shelf for these flagship brands that appear in different retail settings and geographies. As print supply chain participants adopted the new digital technologies and print quality scorecards, brands saw significant quality improvements.
Over time, Coca-Cola and other early adopters expanded their print quality programs to include all their brands and print providers. As the programs and technology matured, a new desire emerged—a standardized way to communicate requirements and integrate data across brands, printers and technologies.
During this time, many technology providers began offering solutions to digitize color specification, communication and quality reporting in print production. Some solution providers began to organize among themselves, integrate products and create a standardization for print quality programs. This resulted in a range of color technology for packaging design, specification, production and quality control that has been adopted by large global brands.
Brands and printers soon faced a plethora of solutions all vying to be the product of choice to solve their color challenges. While there is a commonality in the end-goal, each solution had a different approach to how data is collected and shared.
To drive the next generation of print quality programs, the industry needed to address this growing challenge of integration and data sharing. The introduction of the PQX and PRX standards brings a new way to communicate and share color and quality control data:
- Technology providers can leverage them to create open ecosystems that integrate across multiple software and hardware solutions
- By forming Partner Networks, these companies are helping brands and print suppliers meet their quality needs using a managed ecosystem of tools
What’s Next?
While the industry has taken these first steps, it is important to consider that both the PQX and PRX standards only define a file format. They do not, in themselves, prescribe the communication process nor methodology to interpret the results of what is reported by the printer.
In many ways, PQX and PRX follow the path of other standards introduced in our industry, taking time to be adopted and integrated into the production and reporting workflow. Technology providers will implement them, leading to further evolution in the standards. Over time, the standards will have the chance to achieve their potential.
This is very much what color management experienced when CxF was introduced. Today, CxF has become a common file format to communicate color digitally. As it was being adopted, we saw CxF version 1, 2 and 3 all iteratively building to a state to accommodate many needs. While proprietary and legacy formats will continue to exist, new capabilities can take shape through the evolution of these open standards.
Print Quality Promise
Still in their infancy, PQX and PRX offer a lot of promise, but their real value will depend on how they are adopted and refined over the next few years. In the meantime, brands and suppliers can leverage existing partner ecosystems today to begin seeing immediate benefits.
Companies like L&E International Ltd, a global provider of sustainable packaging solutions, have taken advantage of these integrated solutions. As a certified packaging supplier for adidas, Verizon, Amazon (APASS vendor in Asia), Target and many other brands and retailers, L&E reports into their customers’ print quality programs and must uphold strict brand color standards across multiple countries and manufacturing locations.
According to Vikas Gupta, director of creative solutions and development for Asia at L&E, “During the implementation (of digital libraries and quality assurance software), it quickly provided us increased visibility into our color performance while also delivering real-time data to help us optimize manufacturing efficiencies and reduce waste. Our printers can access Pantone and brand packaging digital color libraries for accurate color targets and we are able to access the printers’ quality reports in real-time. This supports us in monitoring the packaging quality without on-site press checks and to report compliance to brands.”
The need to provide high visibility to packaging print results for brands remains constant. Over time, many of the ecosystems like the one L&E implemented will embrace standard file formats like PQX, just as color management software did with CxF. Brands and print suppliers that embrace digital technologies now can begin sharing data across their supply chain today. They will also be better positioned to leverage PQX and PRX down the road, opening the door for more printers to participate in Brand Print Quality Programs.
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