Rise of the robots: The evolution of Ford's assembly line

Sparks fly as Mustangs are assembled by large robotic arms at a plant in Flat Rock, Michigan, in 2004.

In 2006, the company's new Mondeo from Genk, Belgium, became the first Ford laser-welded by robots.

"In a typical, fairly large plant today, you would see in the area of 500 robots -- and they would do tasks like fastening bits together and moving heavy components from one station to another," explained Hettle.

"But you would also see many many employees doing the lighter assembly work, the quality evaluation, and a lot of the vehicle testing."