A process and apparatus, including a separate coating head, for coating a strip article with a coating material. The process involves coating a strip article with a film of coating material by passing the strip article through a coating apparatus having at least one floating coating head provided with a coating face facing and extending laterally across a surface of the strip article to be coated. The coating head exudes a coating material and floats on the coating material as it meters the coating to a film of the desired thickness. The coating face of the coating head has a preferred coating profile between its opposite ends, and wherein distortions of the preferred coating profile during coating of said strip article are substantially prevented by modifying heat flux to or from selected parts of the coating head to compensate for distortions caused by differences of temperature within the coating head. The apparatus provides means of modifying heat flux to prevent such distortions of the coating profile. A removable coating head also includes such means of modifying the heat flux.