In the 1990s and continuing through present day, laser peening developments have targeted decreasing costs and increasing throughput to reach markets outside of high-cost, low volume components. High costs in the laser peening process were previously attributable to laser system complexity, processing rates, manual labor and overlay applications. Numerous ongoing advancements addressing these challenges have reduced laser peening costs dramatically: laser peening systems are designed to handle robust operations; pulse rates of laser systems are increasing; routine labor operations are increasingly automated; application of overlays are automated in many cases. These reduced operational costs of laser peening have made it a valuable tool for solving an extended range of fatigue and related applications.