Oddly enough, I was making this very point at work today. Many of
the parts
they want us top attach to plates require holes of a strange decimal
reading, my tape only goes down to 32nds of an inch and my layout
rule only
goes to half millimeters.

If the measure measurement is THAT critical, maybe you guys needs
something a little more accurate than a tape measure... perhaps a
Bridgeport with X,Y readings that go to 0.0001"