What is consulting engineering?

Consulting engineering may be a new concept for some people but it has a long history and above all a meaning and a great contribution to society. Consulting as such can be exercised hand in hand with various disciplines, fields or professions. Companies, whatever their area of action, are constantly looking for someone to provide advice, support and guidance in the execution of their projects.

One of these areas of action is engineering, which can be defined as the science that brings together scientific and technological knowledge, promoting innovation, invention, development and techniques for the solution of specific problems.

In other words, engineering can be understood as the science that transforms a group of knowledge into everyday solutions.

To achieve this end, engineering uses and combines knowledge from areas such as mathematics, chemistry, physics, programming, computer systems and others that have emerged over time with new technologies. Likewise, it must adapt to limitations in terms of time, security, resources, among others.

One of the most recent incorporations of engineering and consulting engineering has been the element of the environment and the environment that surrounds the engineering works, this forces to add the environmental and sustainable approach to the projects.

What is a consulting engineer?

All the elements described above should be known to a consulting engineer, a professional who provides advice, recommendations and instructions to companies so that their engineering projects can be carried out successfully.

Generally speaking, a consulting engineer can be understood as a person who does not belong to the company or to the project being executed and who is hired on a temporary basis, this aspect gives them the advantage of having an objective and impartial view.

Talking about their way of acting, it must be taken into account that each project is different and therefore also the role and responsibilities that a consulting engineer must perform, but in general there are at least two phases that are always present:

• First phase: diagnosis

It begins by studying the situation of the project or the idea to be developed. This process includes an analysis of the company itself, how it functions and the resources it has available for the execution of the project, focusing above all on the feasibility of the proposals.

• Second phase: solutions

Taking into account the diagnosis, the consulting team looks for the most appropriate solutions for each particular case. At this point is where technical knowledge is combined with other skills such as commercial, environmental, social, among others.

To conclude then, Consulting Engineering is the intellectual work that puts technology at the service of society. "It is executed by professionals in the development of projects, participating in them from their conception and the definition of processes and specification of equipment to the supervision and administration of the works that require their materialization, to end up collaborating in their implementation."