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Commentary: The Unsung Industry Behind Everything You Use

A One Minute Read by Stacey Varsani 

Founder and Principal Consultant of Hadouken Consulting 

 


My background is in the Testing, Inspection, and Certification (TIC) industry and I still do a lot of work with TIC clients. I’ve been working in the industry for nearly 20 years, but one thing that hasn’t changed is that I still find myself explaining what the industry does many times a week – sometimes many times a day! The TIC industry is a classic “background industry” that it is less visible to consumers but provides vital support to nearly every other industry.  


What is the TIC industry? My go-to answer is that it tests, inspects, and certifies everything around us – from food, clothing, furniture, and appliances to minerals and automobiles – for safety, quality, and compliance with regulations. I usually mention things like the CE mark on electronics and ISO certifications. I also mention the major players, like Intertek, SGS, and Bureau Veritas. However, even though these companies have billions in revenue and collectively hundreds of thousands of employees across the globe, many people outside of the industry haven’t heard of them.  


I’m confident that more people will know about the industry in the future as this “background industry” becomes increasingly important and higher profile. Many factors are driving this, the most significant of which is growing consumer awareness, new technologies driving new regulatory requirements, the increasing importance of ESG criteria to investors, and the need to diversify/de-risk supply chains (nearshoring, China+1, etc). TIC companies can help corporations navigate these challenges and ensure supply chain traceability.  


Of course, the TIC industry itself is highly complex with many small players that operate in one specific area (e.g. honey testing or oil analysis) in addition to the large majors that serve a range of industries. These companies all face many of the same challenges experienced by their customers, such as integrating new technologies, leveraging data analytics, expanding into new markets, launching new services, and improving operational efficiency.  


Hadouken can help TIC clients address these challenges with its unique combination of management consulting, mergers & acquisitions, finance, and TIC operations management experience. We don’t believe in sitting in a conference room, coming up with a strategy deck, and leaving the client to get on with it. Instead, we embed within our clients’ businesses, to help solve problems from the inside out and ensure successful handover and implementation.  


Get in touch today to find out more.  

 

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