Craft Skills as National Asset

Manual craft and tacit workmanship (for example, precision sewing and hands‑on inspection) can be mission‑critical for high‑reliability technologies, not just artisanal culture. Historical cases show consumer manufacturers and their skilled workers can be rapidly repurposed into strategic suppliers when institutional design recognizes and preserves those skills. — If governments and firms ignore craft‑level skills and conversion pathways, they risk gaps in resilience for defense, space, and other safety‑critical industries.