Why Choose Trace

Supply chain consulting that’s sharper, smarter, and goes deeper.

Trace is a boutique consulting firm dedicated to solving the most complex challenges in supply chain. We are passionate about demand and supply balancing, data analysis, and scenario modelling. Our approach is fact-based, hypothesis-driven, and structured.

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Who we are

A boutique firm with a high degree of specialisation.

As a boutique firm, we’re able to go deeper for our clients. It’s not about being smaller, it’s about being specialists.

Our team brings deep operational expertise in supply chain and procurement — not just at the strategy level, but all the way through execution. We know what warehouse constraints look like on site, how to redesign technology architectures, and how to implement change in complex government and commercial environments.

That’s why clients trust us as an extension of their team: we combine real-world experience with evidence-led thinking to deliver supply chains that are efficient, resilient, and built for tomorrow.

Our Difference

Experience that delivers real-world change.

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Tailored Solutions

Customer-focused and solution-agnostic, we put your priorities first. Every engagement is designed around your needs drawing from proven frameworks but adapting our approach to fit your people, systems, and business goals.

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True Partnership

Our approach is collaborative, transparent, and designed to build internal capability. We don’t just deliver outcomes, we leave your team stronger and more self-sufficient than before.

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Real Experience

Our team have led major transformations within government, healthcare, manufacturing, defence, and more. We understand your world and how to improve it.

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Sustainable Approach

Efficiency and resilience should go hand in hand with ethics and low impact. We design supply chains that deliver for your business and the planet.

Our Approach

Proven steps to better supply chains.

We use our unique three-step approach to solve supply chain challenges giving you clarity, confidence, and results you can act on.

1. Fact-based

We map your supply or service chain in detail, building a solid fact base that grounds every recommendation. This ensures solutions are tailored to your business and designed to deliver real benefits.

2. Hypothesis-driven

We work side by side with your team to test and refine hypotheses, combining your customer insight with our analytical expertise. Together we uncover the best path forward, with solutions aligned to your value proposition and business goals.

3. Structured

From idea to business case to delivery, we provide a clear process. We build robust cases with projected ROI and trackable benefits, ensuring accountability and impact at every stage.

How we Utilise AI

AI tools, guided by human insight.

AI is reshaping how supply chains plan and operate, but technology alone doesn’t solve complex problems. We use AI to accelerate the work that should be fast (ingesting data, spotting patterns, running scenarios), while our consultants lead the thinking, align stakeholders, and deliver change on the ground.

Our  AI-powered tools and benchmarking database can help answer critical questions like:

  • What manual tasks can we automate?
  • How can I optimise my distribution network?
  • How much inventory should I carry?
  • How can I improve my cost-to-serve?
  • Where are my biggest risks and how do I strengthen resilience?
  • How are suppliers performing?
  • How sustainable is my supply chain?

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Supply chain sustainability

Better for business, better for the planet.

An efficient supply chain doesn’t just drive performance, it’s one of the most powerful levers we have to combat climate change. More than 60% of global emissions are linked to supply chains, which means every improvement makes a measurable difference for both business and the planet.

At Trace, sustainability isn’t a side project. We embed it into every engagement, designing supply chains that are efficient, transparent, and low impact by default.

Examples of measurable outcomes we focus on include:

  • Cutting waste from online returns and excess inventory
  • Reducing trucks on the road through smarter network design
  • Minimising packaging and manufacturing waste
  • Reducing food waste across complex service chains

Testimonials

What senior business leaders are saying about us:

Members of the team at trace have become trusted business partners. We have previously worked with them on several major projects, including a full strategic review of our New Zealand supply chain. They quickly understood our business and the complexity of our supply chain - undertaking in depth analysis, and identified numerous areas where we were able to optimise our operations, improve service delivery, and save cost. They have a proven ability to provide smart, practical advice, they can communicate effectively across all levels, and they are fun to work with. We rate them highly.

Jon Kelly
Jon Kelly
Chief Executive Officer - Coastal Oil Logistics

The trace team are highly experienced in strategic sourcing for aged care agency workforce, planning and scheduling and also bring unique perspective, with learnings from across a variety of industries - beyond just aged care. They have strong analytical capabilities and able to work with senior level executives within organisations to ensure recommendations are practical for existing maturity levels within an organisation's people and process capability.

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Brett Beattie
Head of Procurement - Estia Health

The trace team have proven experience in helping clients to improve workforce planning and scheduling processes. They are technology agnostic and have a range of best practice frameworks - focused on driving outcomes for providers, carers, and care clients. They work across both the operational and strategic level - helping to drive benefits in service, care standards, cost, and scalability. They are pragmatic in their approach and able to adapt solutions to varying levels of organisational maturity.

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Therese Adami
GM Home & Communities - Catholic Healthcare

The best consultants tease out what we or our teams already know, then challenge our thinking and collaboratively produce roadmaps for execution. Critically they create a sense of urgency that wouldn't exist without them. But to do this effectively requires a blend of subject matter expertise, cultural sensitivity and a preparedness to listen. Based on my experiences with Shanaka Jayasinghe I would recommend trace as practitioners of this approach.

Mark Chapman
Mark Chapman
Chief Operations Officer - National Tiles

The trace. team are passionate about supply chains and helping clients drive tangible improvements in service, cost and working capital. They are unique as a consulting partner as they are truly focused on establishing a fact base, building capability, measuring results and embedding change.

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Adam Price
Chief Financial Officer - OSCARS Group