COSTA MESA, CA—JT Prepress Express is a high quality flexo tradeshop located in Costa Mesa, CA. The owner, Joe Cantarella, opened JT Prepress Express more than 15 years ago with the idea in mind of offering cutting edge prepress and plate making technologies to the flexo industry. The company serves a variety of clients, focusing primarily on the narrow to mid web tag and label converter.
With recent advancements in technology in the flexo industry, JT Prepress saw the need to upgrade its prepress and plate making equipment to improve on the quality and efficiency it provide customers. With that in mind, the company purchased a new Esko CDI with HD Flexo and a Glunz & Jensen 205C all in one, top of the line plate maker. Joe’s many loyal customers are looking forward to the advantages and benefits that digital plates will provide. In conjunction with the new equipment, JT Prepress will utilize the excellent line of Asahi flexo digital plates, supplied by CT Graphic Arts, ensuring customers receive the highest standard of quality the industry has to offer.
Amber Darby, CT Graphic Arts Western U.S. technical sales manager, recently sat down with Joe and talked with him about their recent equipment and software upgrades.
Amber Darby: What led to your decision to go digital, and why did you choose Esko?
Joe Cantarella: JT Prepress has been a film shop making flexo plates for a long time, and our proven techniques in prepress and plate making gave us a very good product. It was about three years ago that Esko’s HD technology moved to a place where it would make a better digital plate than analog, and my philosophy has always been in this trade that you either lead, follow or get out of the way. Esko seems to have the best ablation process and software sold on the market. Between the Esko CDI, Glunz & Jensen 205C and the new Asahi TOP (with pinning top dot technology), we are now prepared to lead the industry in cutting edge prepress services and fully optimized flexo plates. With just over $250,000 invested in technology this year, we are fully prepared to offer our customers the very best prepress services and finished digital plate material available.
Darby: Why did you choose CTGA and its line of Asahi Flexo Plates?
Cantarella: JT Prepress has been doing business with CT Graphic Arts and using the Asahi photopolymer plates for as long as I can remember. There are several choices out there, but we honestly believe that the new Asahi TOP plate produces the very best plate available on the market today. The relationship we have with CT Graphic Arts is one of trust, loyalty and deep knowledge of the flexo industry in general. We look forward to a continued relationship with CTGA and the future of flexo products to come.