In today's ever-increasing competitive world markets, material cost is constantly scrutinized as an area where costs can be reduced while still maintaining a quality standard. Target coating thickness requirements are evaluated and established to minimize the amount of coating required to accomplish the company's objectives with the coating, be it for decorative purposes, aesthetics, or to change the physical properties of the surface of a component - or for simply corrosion prevention.
Establishing target coating thickness requirements also requires measuring coated components to evaluate if the objectives are being met. The situation that often arises is that the testing activity becomes something new to the company's operations. As odd as this sounds, it is true. It is not something that most companies openly admit, but there are plenty of companies that are just introducing coating thickness testing for the first time to their operations.