Purpose
The purpose of my consulting work is to provide practical answers to problems in engineering science and business through quantified analysis. That means giving help and guidance in simulation (discrete event and continuous), modeling, engineering science and applied mathematics.

Applications range from biological sciences through engineering to corporate cash flow and marketing. For links to more information see the Home/Index page. If you already know enough to want to make contact, please feel free to do so. Some comments about getting started, confidentiality and fees and ethics can be found below.

Contact
The easiest means of making contact is via email to mjmccann@ieee.org or follow the feedback link on this website.
Alternatively, you can phone to: 1 302 654-2953, (land-line)
or the (US) mobile (cell) phone 1 302 377-1508,
or send mail to: Dr M.J.McCann, POB 902, Chadds Ford PA 19317, USA.

I have base in England so I can easily and happily work in the UK.
When I'm there or in other countries I use the Mobile/Voicemail : +44 7876 184538.
As the result of a long standing collaboration, you can also get in touch with my friend, Dr Bishop, as follows.

UK Contact: Dr. Charles A. Bishop, C.A.Bishop Consulting Ltd., 5 Church Side, Shepshed, Leicestershire, LE12 9RL
Tel/Fax 01509 502076.     E-mail:  CABishop Consulting . Dr Charles Bishop is colleague, collaborator and friend of long standing. Our businesses are independent. We both have clients on both sides of the Atlantic and we are able to work together to provide you with international support.

Getting Started
Initial discussions to establish mutual interests are easy.
Exploratory (confidential) discussions are essential to establishing a mutual interest and evaluating whether collaboration will be useful. To make this easier, I have a policy of offering a day or so of consultation as a no-fee starter session.
If it needs a lot of travel from my base near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA or from Bristol (England), and if I can't combine it with some other trip, I might have to ask you to contribute to costs. In any case, it is my experience that we can get a long way by phone and email so don't hesitate to get in touch.

How I work with clients.
My usual style of working is to contribute to a project or department by acting as advisor, toolmaker and problem solver, by adding special experience and skills and by being able to give the independent view of things that is so hard to find inside many organisations.
I like to keep in contact as work progresses so the client knows what I'm doing and can control and modify the direction as we proceed. It is rare to go for maore than a couple of days without some check on progress.
You might like to look also at the comments about a philosophy of consulting and responsibilities.

Adapt to suit the client.
As an individual consultant, being flexible in making arrangements is easy. If all you want is a couple of days of help to work through a problem with a fresh look; that's OK. If you want to develop a new product or market and need someone to guide you through the quantification of the design or business prospects, develop a plant simulation or process model then involvement over a longer time span is fine too. If what you really need is to augment your team occasionally with an widely experienced electrical engineer or simulation and modelling expert, then my many years of working with people from other engineering, science and business disciplines will suit you well.

Fees are negotiable when we have some established interest.
Fees are negotiable, commensurate with the level of skill and expertise you need. I usually bill on a per day basis, plus incidental expenses, and don't "nickel and dime" on the odd bits of help and discussions that go along with any serious involvement. When working at my own (home) base for a client I tally the hours and then round down to the nearest half day for billing purposes. If I need to develop a bit of mathematics or do a bit of technical reading to be up to date for you, then that's for my account. As a result you only pay for solid, relevant, engineering and analysis time. I can give fixed price quotes for small predictable jobs. I could work on a retainer basis, but since I expect to be working with clients at a pace they need, it seems to me fairer to bill for real work done. I don't charge for travel time, unless doing some work for the client while in transit.

Confidentiality
I understand that Confidentiality Agreements are often required and will accept and abide by them, but I have two simple rules that apply from our first contact:

• I don't take on new clients if there is a conflict of interest with an existing client and
• I don't talk to anyone about your business unless you ask me to.