-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- design007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueShowing Some Constraint
A strong design constraint strategy carefully balances a wide range of electrical and manufacturing trade-offs. This month, we explore the key requirements, common challenges, and best practices behind building an effective constraint strategy.
All About That Route
Most designers favor manual routing, but today's interactive autorouters may be changing designers' minds by allowing users more direct control. In this issue, our expert contributors discuss a variety of manual and autorouting strategies.
Creating the Ideal Data Package
Why is it so difficult to create the ideal data package? Many of these simple errors can be alleviated by paying attention to detail—and knowing what issues to look out for. So, this month, our experts weigh in on the best practices for creating the ideal design data package for your design.
- Articles
- Columns
- Links
- Media kit
||| MENU - design007 Magazine
Gary Ferrari Shares His Thoughts on PCB Design and More
August 5, 2015 | Barry Matties, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Recently, I had a chance to talk with Gary Ferrari, the director of technical support at Firan 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 career opportunities in our industry. We also covered strategies for helping customers design and build better product, and keeping designers provided 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 manufacturer—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.
Matties: Is it more for military applications?
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 manufacturability 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 customers, is that at the pre-circuit level when they are just imagining this stuff or is it beyond that?
Ferrari: They have already done the imagining, and now they need to bring it to the physical world. Sometimes they just don't understand the tolerances or the processes, the sequences in building a stack-up, material characteristics and combinations, buried vias and all those little details. I work with them so that they understand how to build something that's manufacturable and cost-effective. Anybody can design something, but when it comes down to getting fabricated, it could end up being a million-dollar design when it could have been maybe a thousand-dollar design, but they messed it all up. We try to help them out with that, and that's what my job is.
To read this entire article, which appeared in the July 2015 issue of The PCB Design Magazine, click here.
Testimonial
"The I-Connect007 team is outstanding—kind, responsive, and a true marketing partner. Their design team created fresh, eye-catching ads, and their editorial support polished our content to let our brand shine. Thank you all! "
Sweeney Ng - CEE PCBSuggested Items
Mobix Labs Secures Surge of High-Value Defense Orders, Igniting Growth in its Filter Interconnect Products
07/23/2025 | BUSINESS WIREMobix Labs, Inc., a leading innovator of advanced connectivity and electromagnetic interference (EMI) filtering technology, announced significant quarter-over-quarter revenue growth in its filter and interconnect products, powered by strong customer demand and major wins across mission-critical defense and aerospace programs.
NEOTech’s Westborough Facility Achieves AS9100 Surveillance Audit, Reinforcing Trust with Aerospace & Defense Customers
07/22/2025 | NEOTechNEOTech, a premier provider of electronic manufacturing services (EMS), integrated design engineering, and advanced supply chain solutions for the aerospace and defense, medical device, and high-tech industrial markets, proudly announces that its Westborough, Massachusetts facility has successfully completed the rigorous AS9100 Bi-Annual Surveillance Audit with zero findings, a testament to the company’s unwavering commitment to quality, security, and operational excellence.
TT Electronics Secures Multi-Million-Pound Defense Contract with Ultra PCS
07/18/2025 | TT ElectronicsTT Electronics, a leading provider of global manufacturing solutions and engineered technologies, announced that it has been awarded a significant new contract with long-standing customer Ultra PCS Ltd (Ultra Precision Control Systems).
NEOTech’s Agave 1 Facility Earns AS9100 Certification for Commercial Aerospace Manufacturing Excellence
07/17/2025 | NEOTechNEOTech, a premier provider of electronic manufacturing services (EMS), integrated design engineering, and advanced supply chain solutions for the aerospace and defense, medical device, and high-tech industrial markets, proudly announces that its Agave 1 manufacturing facility in Juarez, Mexico has officially received AS9100 certification.
Federal Electronics Invests in HydroJet Inline Cleaning Technology at Hermosillo Facility
07/15/2025 | Federal ElectronicsFederal Electronics, a leader in providing advanced electronic manufacturing services, has strengthened the advanced cleaning capabilities of its Hermosillo, Mexico facility with the recent installation of a HydroJet Inline Cleaner from Austin American Technology (AAT).