Hand / manual embroidery is considered a craft. The quality of output heavily depends on the skills of the personnel holding the needle and helming the whole embroidery process.
Machine / digital embroidery meanwhile, because nearly everything is dictated by software and computer, by a long shot is the far more efficient and consistent variation of embroidery. For your bulk customized shirt / hoodie orders, machine /digital embroidery is what we use to ensure that production time is kept at a minimum and the output as consistent and accurate as possible.