Independent Management Systems & Business Excellence Advisory
Talk & Trace Consulting helps organisations strengthen quality, governance, risk and compliance by connecting management systems to the way work actually happens.
Independent advisory support. Talk & Trace is not a certification body and does not issue certificates.
Why choose our approach
Talk & Trace is an independent advisory practice built on operational experience, not theory. Every recommendation is traceable to a clause, a record, or evidence an auditor will reasonably expect to see.
IATF 16949 Lead Auditor trained, with hands-on internal and supplier auditing, audit planning and nonconformance management.
Quality management, procurement, supplier auditing and Supplier Technical Assistance in demanding manufacturing supply chains.
APQP, PPAP, FMEA, MSA and SPC applied to real launches and real corrective actions, not delivered as classroom theory.
Findings tied to records, data and clause requirements — with root cause statements written to survive challenge.
Recommendations are independent, with no commercial interest in your audit outcome.
Risk, cost and priority stated in business language so directors can make a decision in one meeting.
The revised standard puts more weight on organisational context, including climate change, leadership's role in quality culture and ethics, risks and opportunities, and planning changes in a controlled way. Our Transition Kit helps you find the gaps and plan your move.
Watch: ISO 9001:2026 — What's Changed and How to PrepareLearn how to complete a PPS step by step, from containment and root cause to corrective action and closure, with a short narrated video for each step.
What we actually do
Four connected areas of work. Each is scoped around a business problem, and each is judged on what changes in the organisation.
ISO 9001 · IATF 16949 · QMS improvement · internal audits · process effectiveness
Identify weaknesses before customers, regulators or certification bodies do — and turn findings into measurable improvement.
Enterprise and operational risk · risk-based thinking · controls · assurance
See where the operation is genuinely exposed, and put proportionate controls where they change the odds.
Management review · accountability · performance oversight · evidence · decision-making
Give leadership a clear line of sight from process performance to the decisions that need making.
Gap assessments · audit readiness · regulatory and customer requirements · corrective action
Enter every audit knowing the position, with evidence organised and corrective actions that hold.
Results
We do not publish guaranteed percentages or financial returns. These are the changes our services are designed to produce.
Our focus is on practical improvements in evidence, accountability and operational control.
Services
Deliberately narrow scope. Every engagement is defined and priced up front, delivered around your processes and your people, and judged on what changes in the business — not on how much documentation it produced.
Enter your ISO 9001, IATF 16949 or customer audit knowing the position — protecting the certification your contracts depend on.
Outcome: no surprises on audit day, and process owners who can answer for their own areas.
Close findings first time and stop repeat failures — removing the rework, scrap and customer escalations they cause.
Outcome: findings closed once, causes removed at source, credibility restored with the customer.
Senior management systems judgement on call — without the cost of a permanent in-house compliance function.
Outcome: a system used day to day, internal audits that find real risk, and leadership visibility of performance.
10+ years in automotive quality and purchasing at an automotive OEM. IATF 16949 Lead Auditor trained (SMMT Industry Forum), with a background in supplier auditing, APQP/PPAP and corrective action.
How we work
Four steps, no drawn-out discovery phase. Start with a strategy call, then agree a clear scope, deliverables and price before work begins.
Twenty minutes on your audit timeline, open findings, and where the system feels thin. No preparation needed.
We review the relevant processes and records, then give you a prioritised picture of risk and effort.
Scope, deliverables, and price agreed in writing before any work starts. No open-ended retainers.
Coaching, closure support, or monthly advisory — delivered with your team in the lead so knowledge stays in-house.
Who we help
Our services are designed for the people who carry the consequences when an audit goes badly — and who own the performance gains when the system works.
Certification underwrites your contracts. You want a straight answer on exposure, cost and timescale — not a documentation project.
You need compliance to fit around production and delivery, and you want the rework and firefighting out of the operation.
You know the standard. You need capacity, a second opinion, and findings closed properly the first time.
Automotive, industrial and precision suppliers holding or pursuing IATF 16949 or ISO 9001 certification with limited internal bandwidth.
Why leaders trust the approach
You are not buying documentation. You are buying a clearer view of where the system is vulnerable, and practical work to close it.
Recommendations are based on evidence, process understanding and objective assessment — traceable to records, data and clause requirements.
The objective is not to create documentation for its own sake. If a control does not change behaviour or reduce risk, it does not earn its place.
Management systems should support operational performance and decision-making, and be readable by the people who run the business.
The goal is to strengthen the underlying system rather than repeatedly fix the same symptoms, and to leave the capability inside your team.
Typical engagements
Examples of the problems we're set up to solve, and how we approach them.
These are illustrative scenarios showing potential scope, approach and intended outcomes, not past engagements or measured results.
Resources & products
Transition kits, a guide to auditing and short videos you can put to work straight away.
Toolkit
Gap analysis workbook, risk and opportunity register, change log, management review template, quality culture tracker and a 32-page transition guide.
Get the Transition KitBook
A practical guide to planning and running audits, from your first audit to lead auditor.
View on AmazonVideo
A short walkthrough of the key changes in ISO 9001:2026 and how to get ready.
Watch the videoMore on our YouTube channel
Free download · Audit Readiness Checklist
A working checklist for ISO 9001 and IATF 16949 audit preparation — the records, evidence and process owners to have ready, written from the auditor's side of the table. Enter your email and we'll send the PDF straight away.
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Next step
A confidential 20-minute conversation with a senior practitioner. You will leave knowing what needs attention first, what it realistically takes to fix, and whether you need outside help at all.
FAQs
