How to hire a CFD consultant

4 simple questions to help you avoid hiring a lemon - what you and any prospective consultant should be asking and listening out for when hiring a CFD consultant.

So, you’ve realised that you could use CFD to make your product better &/or solve a flow problem. You’ve also realised that, whilst you could do it yourself, you’re going to turbo-charge things and get an expert involved.

You’ve hired people before so you know the score. This guide doesn’t touch on the nitty-gritty project/business/situation-specific questions that it’s tempting to dive straight into. It does however suggest a few important (but simple) questions that you should be asking any prospective consultant. It just so happens that they are also questions that you should be asked by your new consultant.

So, don’t just cover the nitty gritty. Sprinkle in a few of the following questions & really dig in…

Have you done this before?

Why you should ask this? It’s pretty unlikely that your prospective consultant will have come across your particular problem in a company just like yours, with the same constraints, timescales and budget. In which case you’re expecting a “No” from this question. That being said, any tangentially-related experience should come up here — “we saw something similar when we looked at X a few years ago and in that case Y happened.”

Why they should ask this? Your future consultant wants to know if you have any preconceptions about how this will go. Have you hired a CFD consultant before? Why aren’t you using them for this project? What didn’t you like about the last lot? Be open. You’ll probably find that the new guys will go all out to over-deliver & blow your socks off.

Why?

Why you should ask this? It’s likely that your plucky consultant might suggest methods, processes or changes that you don’t fully understand. Ask “Why?” A lot. They should be able to explain why by relating it back to your problems and your business. You aren’t looking for a cookie-cutter project. You need a solution tailored to your specific problems. Asking “why?” should tease out whether the prospective consultant really gets you, your business & your problem.

Why they should ask this? You should hear this a lot during any discussions as well as asking it. You understand your product, your problems & your business. Your potential consultant doesn’t…yet. They should be pushing for the reasons behind your answers, trying to find out how this project can have the most impact on your business. The initial problem you presented them with might not be the one that you really need to attack. They should be trying to uncover this. They aren’t being nosey.

How much?

Why you should ask this? How much is this going to cost you? Probably the most important question from your point of view. Which is probably why it usually comes up too early in most discussions. Please try and hold off asking this one until you get closer to understanding what the project will really look like.

Why they should ask this? They’re qualifying you — making sure you aren’t kicking the tires. Do you have budget in place for this? What have you allocated to get this done? Can you authorise the spend? Do you need to get other people involved before it can be approved? But, just as importantly they need to know that you’re comfortable spending money on this work. If you’ve listed out £100,000 worth of deliverables but have only allocated £10,000, then you both need to revisit the scope to make something happen. Be upfront rather than raising it after you have a proposal.

What are the timescales?

Why you should ask this? It’s pretty obvious that you need to know how long this process is likely to take. At the outset it’s going to be difficult for your prospective consultant to give you a concrete timeline. But they should be able to give you an outline of what they expect. Use this info to schedule time to act on the outcome of the project. It’s not a successful CFD project if there’s no time to do anything with what you’ve learned.

Why they should ask this? Time — the enemy of every R&D project. Specifically, a lack of thinking time. The clearer you are with your timescales, the better your consultant can schedule their work. Your timings should include any cast-iron, drop-dead dates for things like design freezes, sign-off and/or manufacturing. If you need it in 4 weeks, say so. Don’t pretend you need it in 3 weeks, just to build in some “contingency”. You’ve probably just eaten some of the potential improvement by shortening the deadline.

Watch out for…

Science Projects

When a consultancy thinks they understand your problem, then retires for the project duration before presenting you with a thorough report that misses the mark. That’s what I call a “science project”. Nice CFD that’s interesting in the broadest sense, but not actionable or useful to you. Warning signs include them being very quick to grasp your problem without asking many questions & also you having to chase out project updates.

Never saying “No”

Most consultancies specialise to some greater or lesser extent and there will be things that they can’t do efficiently. Additionally there will be things that they can do but that don’t fit with your budget or objectives. These are difficult to spot, but you can get a feel by asking “why?” if you ever feel like you’re being oversold or that they’re straying away from their core competencies.

Maslow’s Hammer

“I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail. Abraham Maslow in The Psychology of Science”

CFD isn’t always the answer. But if you’re a CFD consultant it’s tempting to hit every problem you come across with your CFD hammer. Hopefully you’re talking to the kind of consultant that will admit when CFD isn’t your best option. If in doubt, bring up alternative approaches, like physical testing, and see how they deal with your suggestions.

Your takeaway

There are thousands of questions that could come up when deciding which consultant (or consultancy) are a good fit for your problem, budget & business. I’ve just tried to highlight a few important ones that might be swept aside once you get into nitty-gritty details. If you can throw a few of these ones into your initial conversations then I know you’ll benefit.

If you can’t remember all of them, or you just want one to latch on to, then go with asking “why?” a lot. It’s pretty annoying, but you’ll help everyone in that discussion get clarity. They’ll thank you for it later…maybe.