The automotive industry, with all its supply chains, is a broadly diversified sector that is constantly being driven by digitalization, increased performance and new technologies. But here, too, development is accompanied by new challenges in terms of the cleanliness of components and assemblies. The automotive industry was a pioneer in the development of a standard that relates exclusively to contamination, detection and recommendations for avoiding particles. Other industries have adopted it. However, while filmic contaminants are often overlooked, they can have a significant impact on the cleanliness of the entire process chain if they are not specifically monitored. In the worst case, they cause coating defects and have a negative impact on the durability and functionality of components and assemblies. Complaints and production downtime would be the result. Proactively preventing this is possible with the use of our measurement technology for filmic contamination (VIDAM®) in order to pay due attention to this crucial aspect and ensure the highest quality standards.