Time to update SIC - but who is up to the task. (Standard Industrial Classification System)

I pity the poor manufacturer of a somewhat new device that measures how much rubber a tire lays down on the road during use. There is no numerical industrial classification for this kind of contraption--simply because not enough of them are manufactured.

At first glance, this may not seem to be such a big deal. So what if the manufacturer can't categorize its product? But there is a compelling need for such categorization--indeed, a formal system has been in place since the 1950s--to standardize industrial production in everything from bills of lading, to trade association records to economic statistics on all levels. There must be a uniform system to track industrial output, …