Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1530610
86 PCB007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2024 years. I've lived all over the U.S. and run global commercial teams for companies of all sizes, with the sole focus of bringing value-added design and man- ufacturing services to the mar- ketplace. As Carey said, there is great alignment with my back- ground in the market segments that we're focused on and all the exciting happenings at FCT and with inTFlex, which is our EMS solutions group. Our capabilities and facilities in China are amazing. Carey and I just came back from a whirlwind trip and saw the newly updated facilities. ey are roughly a million- and-a-half square feet of truly state-of-the- art manufacturing on both the bare circuit and EMS sides. We see a tremendous oppor- tunity offering our flexible solutions and roll- ing into an integrated offering and more value- add through the product lifecycle, whether it's on the initial design or through end-of-life cost downs. From my perspective, we are truly unique in offering all of this under one roof. is job was also a unique situation where corporate U.S. facility happens to be 30 min- utes from my home. With world class design engineering and program managers, and a flex- ible solution offering into the marketplace, it was too compelling an offer to pass up. Carey has been gracious, and I'm truly looking for- ward to learning from him. Where were you working prior to FCT? Cottrell: I worked at East West Manufacturing out of Atlanta, but I came to FCT because the opportunity for growth is phenomenal. Our run rate next year will be more than double, and with the increased capacity, capabilities, and technologies we have, I can see us tripling our revenue over the next few years. Burkett: We've recently expanded our team to include Abby Meyer as our first marking direc- tor, as well as adding appli- cation engineering, program management, CAD teams, business development manag- ers, and additional commercial talents. We've also expanded our facilities. FCT Zhuhai has been open for two years with 500,000 square feet of manufacturing space dedicated to flex, rigid, flex heater, miniaturization and HDI, and substrate-like PCBs. We manufacture large format PCBs—anything from battery monitoring sys- tems to catheter circuits. It's significant because not everyone does all that. You are producing boards on opposite ends of the spectrum. Burkett: Yes, we're addressing both. ere are continued trends driving engineers to these new solutions and that's good news for our industry. Miniaturization, mobility, and challenging form factors all require a greater breadth of capabilities for the specific types of products that we design. FCT also has a dis- tinct market advantage because we have some of the best designers in the industry. Each of our engineers has over 30 years of flex design experience. Our director of application engi- neering, Mark Finstad, is the vice chair of the IPC Flexible Circuit Committee and is one of the leading educators on flex. ese folks are not just designers. ey started by building product, and that expe- rience and context matters when it comes to creating cost-effective product designs for our customers that will perform as required in challenging applications and environments. is expertise really helps us serve our custom- ers and is a distinguisher for us on the printed circuit side of the business. Tell me more about "substrate-like PCBs." Burkett: e substrate-like PCB is not a flex Carey Burkett