Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/539281
28 The PCB Design Magazine • July 2015 feature by Barry Matties i-ConneCT007 Recently, I had a chance to talk with Gary Ferrari, the director of technical support at Fi- ran Technology Group Corporation (FTG), on numerous topics related to PCB design. Our conversation ranged from CID training to the need for reaching high school students as a way of introducing more young people to ca- reer opportunities in our industry. We also cov- ered strategies for helping customers design and build better product, and keeping designers pro- vided with the most critical part of their supply chain—information. Barry Matties: gary, please begin by telling us a little bit about Ftg. Gary Ferrari: FTG is a circuit board manufac- turer—that's the circuits division. Then we have an aerospace division and their products are keyboards, bezels, and panels for the avionics industry. When you look at all the gauges on the dashboard of a cockpit, you are looking at the items we manufacture. Gary Ferrari Shares His Thoughts on PCB Design and More Matties: is it more for the military application? Ferrari: It's for both commercial and military avionics. Our products are on helicopters and military aircraft. We're also on many of the commercial aircraft. We're on the new C919 from China. Actually, we have a plant to build those units over there. We have an aerospace and a circuits division in Toronto, as well as an aerospace and circuits division in Chatsworth, California. Matties: What is your position at Ftg? Ferrari: I am the director of technical support— that means that I get into the customer prior to the design or during the design phase and I help them with their design issues. I look at manu- facturability from a fabrication standpoint, as well as assembly, DFM, test, etc. I try to help them design a good product in the long run. That's where I serve best. Matties: When you talk about working with cus- tomers, is that at the pre-circuit level when they are just imagining this stuff or is it beyond that?