Really? So all the designers and engineers at Ford who don't have an iota of a car built by the time they're done with their work aren't producing any value?

Marketing and finance are also very large components of cost and value, respectively.

It was a short pithy sentence, but it does have a kernel of truth to it.

The design is like the electricity to the factory. You need it or else you get no cars at all, but it's a small percentage of the total resources consumed and produces no value at all directly.