About the tic industry

Evaluation is one of the oldest instincts of mankind. We have come a long way from the time of the hunter-gatherer, who was trying to evaluate if something was worthy of picking up to the era where people are flicking options on screens of smart devices.

The TIC industry consists of several pieces which are detailed here. Any and every activity that leads to establishing trust can be clubbed under the TIC industry. While some of these activities have been not-for-profit efforts by experts in the past; the same may not be completely true now. As commercialisation has been increasing; little is left from the pieces of the TIC industry which is untouched by entities which are for-profit.

Unlike many other known or established industries (like Pharma, Manufacturing, FMCG, IT, Construction, etc.); this industry is still evolving and is not very well known or understood by traditional industries (all of whom cannot survive without this industry).

Now, it has been a little over a century that we started publishing documents (standards) which would define concepts of evaluation of what we consider of value. Standards defining performance or behaviour provide the much-needed quantification to help put a “value” to what we have considered worthy of buying or selling. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947 created the real need to grow the boundaries of standards in a more structured way.

The current times are seeing the Testing, Inspection & Certification (TIC) industry becoming more organised. The industry which is still comes across as largely unorganized displays great profit margins in some spaces and has been catching the eye of the financial industry. It also has a very unique link to International Trade and inter-country relationships. Hence it catches the fancy of diverse groups of people.

There are also several unique aspects of this industry’s contribution to the world around. This industry is also the cornerstone of innovation and helps drive the progress of humanity. Because without creating boundaries (defined in standards); there is no way that humanity will strive to go beyond boundaries. Though the industry has been becoming more commercial itself, it is the only industry which is capable of keeping a check on commercialisation as well!

To understand the industry better, you will need to know who the Key Stakeholders of TIC industry are.