Utilization goals creeping up?

Lately, it feels like the utilization targets are just getting higher and higher. My project is winding down, and the lead has been talking a lot about 'maximizing billable hours' for everyone remaining. It's starting to feel less about actual client needs and more about hitting some arbitrary internal metric. I've seen this trend on a couple of projects now. Management keeps saying it's about 'efficiency and ensuring strong performance across the board.' But it feels like a precursor to something else. Anyone else experiencing this or have any intel on what's driving this push?