Automation Paradox: Tacit‑Knowledge Bottleneck

Automation intended to replace frontline factory labor can increase operational fragility because many failure modes depend on decades of tacit, sensorimotor knowledge held by retiring technicians. Without deliberate programs to capture, transfer, and institutionalize that knowledge (apprenticeships, documentation, embedded sensors plus human‑in‑the‑loop protocols), automated plants risk longer downtimes and lower returns on automation investment. — Reindustrialization and industrial‑security policy must fund workforce preservation and knowledge‑capture as core components of factory subsidies and automation strategy, not treat automation and labor as interchangeable inputs.