They had slaves, and didn’t feel the need for machines. The industrial revolution came about after plagues wiped out large segments of the population, plus people leaving for the new world left a personnel shortage.
I agree that manpower shortages helped trigger the Industrial Revolution. Look at our country at the time of the Southern secession. Almost all industry was based in the North, as was the capital sources needed to finance railroads and factories. The South did not have the ability to manufacture sufficient supplies of firearms, clothing, and other war materiel for a prolonged conflict. With the economy based on cash agriculture, principally cotton and secondarily tobacco, and a steady supply of slave labor, the plantation aristocracy had no motivation to industrialize the South. When the Southern states seceded, they had three hopes: (1) that the Federal government would let them go in peace; (2) that the Confederacy would score a quick victory; and (3) that England and France would intervene militarily. When none of these hopes came to fruition, the Confederate government faced a protracted war without the necessary industrial base to supply an army. No matter how good the Southern generals were, or the quality of the Southern soldiers, they were unable to sustain a long war against an industrial nation.