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Guven Bircan
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Operational Excellence · Cost Transformation · Engineering

Turning operational problems into measurable improvements.

Mechanical engineer and operational excellence leader with 19 years at Toyota Motor Europe. I have led cost reduction, R&D, production engineering and vehicle launches across Europe and Japan, including a programme that grew annual savings from about €5M to more than €20M.

Zaventem, Belgium · Available across Belgium & Europe

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Professional portrait of Guven Bircan

Evidence

Measured impact

Selected outcomes from nearly two decades across automotive engineering, manufacturing and cost transformation.

€20M+

Peak annual cost savings

4×

Growth in annual savings, 2021–2025

€4M+

Savings secured on the Corolla launch

19+ years

Toyota Motor Europe experience

Guven Bircan with colleagues in a workplace setting (faces blurred)
Colleagues' faces obscured for privacy.

Background

About

I started on the factory floor as a stamping engineer, where I learned first-hand how engineering decisions become production constraints.

At Toyota Motor Europe I worked across R&D, quality, homologation, vehicle launches and cost reduction.

From 2021 to 2025 I led cost reduction for European vehicle lines including Aygo, Yaris, Corolla and C-HR. Today I am building an independent practice and am open to interim, consulting and permanent management roles where hands-on operational leadership can deliver measurable results.

Method

How I work

  1. First

    Understand the problem

    Go to the process, understand the facts and define the real constraint.

  2. Second

    Align the people

    Bring engineering, operations, quality, purchasing and suppliers around the same problem.

  3. Third

    Make improvement measurable

    Turn actions into measurable cost, quality, delivery or process improvements.

What I do

Expertise

Operational Excellence

Lean, TPS, Kaizen, PDCA, A3, structured problem solving

Cost Transformation

Cost reduction, value engineering, VA/VE, cost governance

Manufacturing

Production engineering, stamping, industrialisation, supplier collaboration

Engineering & Quality

R&D, engineering changes, root-cause analysis, homologation

Programme Leadership

Cross-functional teams, vehicle launches, plants, suppliers, international programmes

Digital Process Improvement

Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, workflow automation and operational visibility

Proof

Selected results

Results from my roles at Toyota Motor Europe (employment, not client engagements).

Cost transformation

€5M → €20M+ annual savings

Scaled cost reduction across European vehicle lines through shared targets, cross-functional alignment and structured Kaizen with suppliers.

Vehicle launch

€4M+ Corolla launch savings

Took the European cost approach to Toyota Japan and secured €4M+ savings on the Corolla launch.

Quality / engineering

10+ major quality issues addressed annually

Resolved recurring issues through root-cause analysis and permanent engineering changes while maintaining regulatory compliance.

Track record

Career

More than 20 years across engineering, manufacturing and automotive, from product design to production, R&D and cost transformation.

Vehicle launches in the UK, Türkiye, Czech Republic and Japan

2026–Present

Independent Practice

Operational Excellence & Lean

  • Building an independent practice focused on operational excellence, Lean, cost transformation and digital process improvement. Currently open to interim, consulting and permanent management opportunities.
2026–Present

Mercor Intelligence

Contract

Evaluator & Generalist Expert

  • Providing engineering, manufacturing, management and consulting expertise for AI model evaluation and high-quality training data.
2006–2025 · 19+ years

Toyota Motor Europe

2021–2025

Cost Reduction Leader

  • Led cost reduction activities across European vehicle lines, increasing annual savings from approximately €5M to €20M+. Aligned more than 50 engineers and worked with Tier-1 suppliers through structured Kaizen and value-engineering activities. Supported the transfer of the European approach to Toyota Japan and secured €4M+ in savings on the Corolla launch.
2015–2021

R&D Project Manager

  • Led R&D engineering activities across vehicle programmes, delivering approximately €6M in annual cost optimisation while maintaining regulatory compliance. Resolved more than 10 major quality issues annually through structured root-cause analysis and permanent engineering changes. Received three Toyota VA Awards.
2006–2015

Production Engineer

  • Led production engineering and industrialisation activities for vehicle launches across the UK, Türkiye, Czech Republic and Japan. Worked with cross-cultural teams and developed hands-on Toyota Production System experience within manufacturing operations.

Earlier experience

2005–2006

Military service, Turkish Armed Forces

Sergeant

Managed operations and a team of more than 10 in a structured, high-pressure environment.

2003–2005

Venüs Kalıp San. ve Tic. A.Ş.

Head of Product Design

Founded a product-design function serving industrial and medical applications, including mandible implant development using CATIA V5, stress analysis and tomography-to-model conversion.

Guven Bircan with colleagues in a workplace setting (faces blurred)

Working across teams and countries

Colleagues' faces obscured for privacy.

Education

  • MSc Mechanical Engineering

    Istanbul Technical University · 2002–2005

  • BSc Mechanical Engineering

    Yildiz Technical University · 1998–2002

  • MBA, Global Leader Program

    Nagoya University of Commerce & Business, Japan · 2011–2012

Certifications and training

  • Professional Scrum Product Owner I (PSPO I) — Scrum.org
  • Toyota Business Practices (TBP)
  • DRBFM

Tools

  • CATIA V5
  • Python
  • Microsoft Power Platform (Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate)

Languages

Turkish
Native
English
Fluent
Dutch
Limited working proficiency
Japanese
Limited working proficiency
French
Elementary

Next step

Let's talk

I am open to interim management, operational excellence, Lean, cost transformation and continuous-improvement opportunities in Belgium and across Europe.

Email meConnect on LinkedInDownload CV (PDF)

Beyond work

guventech

I learn by making things. Guventech is my workshop for it: 3D printing in the physical world, and vibe coding in the digital one.

Guventech is my personal brand for hobby technology projects, separate from my consulting work.

3D printing

Designing, printing and refining small physical things. The same engineering curiosity, on a desk instead of a production line.

Follow on Instagram →

@guven_tech

Vibe coding

Weekend experiments in building software with AI assistance, such as WVC-CAD, a parametric 2D mechanical sketcher. Learning in public.

See the code on GitHub →

guventech

Guven Bircan

Operational Excellence · Cost Transformation · Engineering

Zaventem, Belgium

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© 2026 Guven Bircan