Brian Holcombe
A great deal of it can be mechanized, I really have little qualms with this so long as quality is maintained. After all, I think modern life would be nearly impossible without machines and the benefit of that in good cases is that you can get quality products that are reasonably priced.

Consider the CH24 chair, truly a masterpiece of industrialized fine woodworking. Wegner worked out the prototype painstakingly, having designed and built it by hand many times until he felt it was ready to be produced, then worked with the shop until the shop was capable of producing top quality work quickly and effectively. The chair features a steam bent back rail, curved lamination support for the back, perfectly straight grained lumber, cut tenons and a hand woven seat...for $550.

I think in scenarios like this where the details are so thoroughly thought-of and a master cabinetmaker with training in architecture was employed to put it together, then it becomes a huge benefit and allows many many people who would otherwise not be capable of doing to enjoy good design and quality make.

I like handwork for different purpose, I find it both practical and awe inspiring. I'm able to produce what I consider to be high quality furniture in a limited space. To do the same thing with machines would require me to practically rent a warehouse space and buy some top quality european tools along with probably CNC equipment and even then I would still be using hand tools. They have not really been eliminated from top work, even in production scenarios.

CNC is really only so accurate and it does not leave a quality surface finish aside from the fact that it would be without tearout. So the parts must be further refined from that point and shops are typically employing skilled labor for that aspect of the work.