Marine welding engineer Lambertus van Ouwerkerk founded RTD in 1937. He saw business potential in the introduction of X-ray inspection to check welds on ship hulls, because he believed that NDT would be an important factor in the introduction of welding as a replacement of riveting. Just after the war, the company expanded when the first refineries in Rotterdam were constructed and RTD was hired for checking the welded joints in the piping. The discovery of gas in the north of the Netherlands in the 1960’s was another boost to business. Thousands of kilometers of gas pipeline were laid. RTD's knowledge of NDT was of utmost importance in inspecting all welds and other parts of the gas network. In 2006, RTD was taken over by Applus+. Over the years Applus RTD has built up considerable knowledge of the processes involved in different industries and continues to provide that experience to clients around the world. The company has in excess of 1,200 employees.

• 1973, RTD GmbH established in West-Germany
• 1980, start of RTD Quality Services NV in Belgium
• 1990, establishment of RTD Quality Services Inc. in Canada and RTD Quality Services LP in the USA
• 1992, establishment of RTD Quality Services s.r.o in the Czech Republic
• 1998, start of RTD Slovakia s.r.o
• 2004, RTD’s acquisition of Steeltest Australia results (RTD Steeltest)
• 2005, RTD’s acquisition PS&I in France (RTD PS&I)
• 2006, Applus+ takes over RTD, resulting in Applus RTD