I'm going to take my time learning about the construction techniques so that I can make informed guesses. I agree that manual work is often a sign of a master craftsmanship.

It's fallacious to believe that something good would have been invented by now if it were possible. I've seen other niche industries that thought the same until outsiders made breakthroughs. Nothing is set in stone.

I'm not talking about industrial machinery spitting out items. Perhaps some things can be further automated and save additional time? Ie, sewing machines are used instead of 100% hand sewing for a reason, aren't they?

Equally, automating often means changing or simplifying the process. Ie, X-kilts would seem a good candidate for automatic production.