In the old days of traditional manufacturing, steel and other metals arrived at factories in an untreated and unpainted state. Companies would fabricate and paint or treat the metal components of their product before assembly. This was costly, time-consuming, and environmentally harmful. The coil coating process was pioneered in the 1930s for painting, coating and pre-treating large coils of metals before they arrived at a manufacturing facility. The venetian blind industry was the first to utilize pre-painted metal.