Skip to content
Guven Bircan
ResultsHow I workExperienceEducationContactHow I can help
CV
EN|TR|NL

Operational Excellence & Cost / Value Engineering Leader

Guven Bircan

I am a mechanical engineer with 20+ years of professional experience, including over 19 years at Toyota Motor Europe. I lead operational excellence and cost / value engineering work, from shop-floor launch stability to cross-functional cost programmes. Annual programme savings grew from about €5M to over €20M a year by 2024, a team result. I am based in Zaventem and open to permanent and interim roles in Belgium.

Zaventem, Belgium · Open to roles, interim and projects around Brussels

Contact meDownload CV (PDF)
Professional portrait of Guven Bircan

Results

What I’ve delivered

€5M → €20M+ a year (team result)

Annual programme savings. Team result at Toyota Motor Europe, by 2024.

I coordinated cost-reduction work between Engineering, Purchasing and suppliers. I also built a dashboard to help teams focus on the highest-value ideas. One example was a supplier change for the next-generation Corolla’s wireless phone charger, which saved more than €4M a year.

I received three Toyota Value Analysis (VA) Awards (2 in R&D, 1 in cost reduction).

How I work

My work at Toyota began on the factory floor, improving the processes used to make car parts. I later led engineering work for new vehicles and coordinated cost reduction across European programmes.

Working across these areas helped me connect design decisions with what happens in production.

My approach is straightforward: understand the problem, bring the right people together, and check whether the change worked.

Guven Bircan in conversation with colleagues at work (faces blurred)
Colleagues' faces obscured for privacy.

Practical tools

A3 Cost Reduction

Independent project, built with AI assistance. Under active development.

I built this tool to help people understand costs, compare improvement ideas and follow actions through to results. It brings the problem, decisions and follow-up into one place.

Try the free app →

Optional: my paid guide, workbook and printable A3 sheets.

A3 Cost Reduction Pack on Gumroad ↗

Cost teardown: door mirror

A generic exterior mirror. Take it apart to explore the decisions behind a lower-cost design.

Illustrative study, not validated. This is a generic model I built myself. It is not based on any manufacturer's or supplier's drawings, parts or cost data. The exploded view explains the assembly. It is not a validated service sequence.

Cost teardown: door mirror

9 parts in this specification · 15 across all levels · Preview image

Assembled generic door mirror with its glass, housing and mounting base
Load the 3D model to rotate it, or pick a part below to read about it.
3D viewer controls

Explore the parts

Selecting an optional part switches the model to the specification level that includes it.

Select a part to see what it does, one cost idea (with its conditions), and what I would still need to check.

Download my CV ↓Discuss a cost challenge →

AI and cost reduction for small and medium manufacturers

I help small and medium manufacturers in Belgium cut cost and save time. I combine 19+ years of Toyota cost reduction and Lean experience with practical AI tools: faster quotes and reports, clear cost dashboards, A3 problem solving and simple automations your team can use every day. A first project can be a short fixed-price pilot of 2 to 3 days.

Discuss a pilot project

Experience

Over 19 years, my work grew from production engineering to R&D project management and cost-reduction leadership.

Self-employed, Belgium

Jan 2026 – Present

Independent professional development and contracting

  • Registered as self-employed in Belgium. Developing practical tools for cost reduction and continuing professional development.

Mercor Intelligence

Contract (remote)
Jul 2026 – Present

AI Training Specialist

  • Review AI-generated engineering and manufacturing content as an independent contractor through Mercor.

Toyota Motor Europe

Jul 2006 – Dec 2025 · 19+ years

Cost Reduction Leader

Jul 2021 – Dec 2025
  • Led a team of 3 and coordinated Engineering, Purchasing and suppliers on European cost-reduction programmes. Built a dashboard to focus on the highest-value ideas.

R&D Project Manager

Mar 2015 – Jul 2021
  • Led a team of 3 engineers on two major vehicle programmes, covering design changes, quality, costs and regulatory requirements.

Production Engineer

Jul 2006 – Mar 2015
  • Led production engineering for vehicle launches at five plants across the UK, Türkiye, Czechia, France and Japan. Led nearly 50 production operators, introduced Lean standards and gained hands-on TPS experience in Japan.

Earlier experience

Military service, Turkish Armed Forces

Aug 2005 – Jan 2006

Sergeant

  • Managed operations and a team of more than ten during military service.

Venüs Kalıp San. ve Tic. A.Ş.

Nov 2003 – Jul 2005

Head of Product Design

  • Founded and led a product-design and rapid-prototyping department for industrial and medical clients, including Arçelik.
Guven Bircan collaborating with colleagues across a wide table (faces blurred)

Working across teams and countries

Colleagues' faces obscured for privacy.

Qualifications & skills

Education

  • MBA (Honours), Global Leader Program

    NUCB Business School, Nagoya University of Commerce & Business, Japan

    2011–2012

  • MSc Mechanical Engineering

    Istanbul Technical University

    2002–2005

  • BSc Mechanical Engineering

    Yildiz Technical University

    1998–2002

Professional development

  • Professional Scrum Product Owner I (PSPO I), Scrum.org, Jan 2026
  • Lean Six Sigma White Belt, GLSS, Apr 2026
  • AI Builder: Create Agents, Voice Agents & Automations in n8n, Udemy, Aug 2026
  • Toyota Business Practices (TBP)
  • DRBFM

Tools

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

Languages

Turkish
Native
English
Fluent
Dutch
Intermediate
Japanese
Intermediate
French
Elementary

Beyond work

guventech

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

Guventech is my personal brand for hobby technology projects, separate from my professional 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

Software experiments

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

Personal projects

Personal project · English

Speed Reader

Read at your own pace

A personal reading tool I built with adjustable pacing, two reading modes and saved progress. An experiment in making reading on a phone more comfortable.

Try the reader ↗

Prototype · English

Who Am I?

A self-reflection quiz

Explore your own personality tendencies through ten short questions. A personal software prototype built by Guven for self-reflection, with uncalibrated scores. It is not a validated personality assessment.

Try the quiz ↗

Starter template

AI Project Starter

A template for starting projects

My stack-agnostic Cursor starter: scoped rules, skills, architect and verifier agents, docs and CI.

View on GitHub ↗

Let's talk

I’m open to permanent roles, interim assignments and short AI and cost reduction projects around Brussels, Leuven and Mechelen.

Email meConnect on LinkedInDownload CV (PDF)

Guven Bircan

Operational Excellence · Cost Engineering · Lean

Zaventem, Belgium

Menu

  • Results
  • How I work
  • Experience
  • Education
  • Contact
  • How I can help
  • Privacy

Contact

  • Email
  • CV
  • LinkedIn

guventech

InstagramGitHub

Not affiliated with or endorsed by Toyota Motor Corporation or Toyota Motor Europe.

© 2026 Guven Bircan