Appearance Inspection Panic

In the course of my work, I hear about the "current state" of various industries through various channels.
There are many places that are "not quite there yet," but there seems to be a small glimmer of light.
I have a feeling that it won't be long before we are back to a "reasonable" state.
On a different note, back when the economy was still booming, I heard a story about how production could not be increased due to a bottleneck in the number of inspection man-hours. It was not so easy to secure inspectors, and as long as we relied on manpower, we could not reduce costs.
On the other hand, now. The production volume has decreased significantly, and the processes that relied on manpower must have reduced their workforce in one fell swoop. I have also heard that they are reassigning regular employees to perform visual inspections.
What would happen if production increased under such conditions?
Would it be possible to conduct visual inspections again using "manpower tactics"?
Or will they rush to install visual inspection equipment?
Even if it works, it will take nearly a year to get the visual inspection equipment up and running.
Even more than that, the likelihood of success is not very high.
I can't help but feel that we are on the eve of a "visual inspection panic."