Our Story
Welcome to Lean Institute Belgium, the Belgian arm of the Global Lean Institute founded by Jim Womack and Dan Jones, the fathers of Lean in the western world. Lean is the name they gave to the Toyota Production System in their famous book 'The Machine that Changed the World' in 1990.
That year, Pierre Masai was working for the Volkswagen factory in Brussels, and his CEO recommended him to read this book. Since then, a 35-year-long journey of Lean started, first seeing it implemented outside Toyota, in Europe and in China, and then at Toyota since 2005. For these last twenty years, Pierre Masai was head of IT development, then VP & CIO Europe at Toyota, and from 2020 to 2023, he completed his travel to the source by working for Toyota in Japan, in Nagoya and Toyota City.
Haiyan Bai, the associate and wife of Pierre Masai, has worked 11 years for Volkswagen in China, where she witnessed Lean implementation, as well as for various local and Japanese companies. She has lived in China, Germany, France, Belgium and Japan, speaks five languages and has university degrees from China and Germany (Cologne). She has been involved in Pierre's Lean activities for the last 20 years and more recently giving training with Pierre to companies and through masterclasses.
Lean Institute in Belgium provides Executive Coaching, Lean training, and sells Lean books.
Depending on the missions, we can also tap into a large network of Lean professionals and we maintain excellent contacts and collaboration with the Lean Institutes in The Netherlands and France
Our Team
Jan Hermans
After holding various positions in logistics and the petroleum sector, Jan Hermans worked for 20 years at Toyota's European headquarters in Brussels. Within Human Resources, Jan was responsible for organizational development, talent development, and training and development. In this role, he trained, coached and mentored employees at both the production sites and Toyota's commercial organization throughout Europe.
Jan is a certified trainer for all Global Toyota programs, including TBP (Toyota Business Practice of Problem-Solving), Hoshin Kanri (Director-Management), A3 (Consensus Building & Communication), PDCA, JKK (Jikotei Kanketsu), and TPS (Toyota Production System).
He also specialized in Management and Leadership Development within Toyota's European organization.
Jan delivers sessions on Toyota Business Practice of Problem Solving (TBP), Jikotei Kanketsu (Integrated Quality), TPS for the office environment, Hoshin Kanri of Direction Management, OJD (Workplace Development), and Lean Leadership (Toyota Management Development). He also serves as a keynote speaker, translating Toyota's DNA into actionable insights for various sectors. As an Executive Coach, he also guides organizations in their Lean transformation with measurable, sustainable results.
His expertise lies in translating Toyota's world-renowned systems into practice—teaching leaders to build consensus through A3 thinking, achieve continuous improvement using JKK principles, and foster a culture of excellence through authentic Lean Leadership implementation.
Après avoir occupé divers postes dans la logistique et le secteur pétrolier, Jan Hermans a travaillé pendant 20 ans au siège européen de Toyota à Bruxelles. Au sein des Ressources Humaines, il était responsable du développement organisationnel, du développement des talents, ainsi que de la formation et du perfectionnement. À ce titre, il formait et encadrait les employés des sites de production et de l'organisation commerciale de Toyota à travers l'Europe.
Jan est formateur certifié pour tous les programmes mondiaux de Toyota, notamment le TBP (Toyota Business Practice of Problem-Solving), le Hoshin Kanri (Director-Management), l'A3 (Consensus Building & Communication), le PDCA (PDCA), le JKK (Jikotei Kanketsu) et le TPS (Toyota Production System).
Il s'est également spécialisé dans le développement du management et du leadership au sein de l'organisation européenne de Toyota.
Il anime des sessions sur le TBP (Toyota Business Practice of Problem-Solving), le Jikotei Kanketsu (Qualité Intégrée), le TPS en milieu de bureau, le Hoshin Kanri (Direction Management), l'OJD (Workplace Development) et le Lean Leadership (Toyota Management Development). Il intervient également comme conférencier principal, traduisant l'ADN de Toyota en enseignements pratiques pour divers secteurs. En tant que coach de dirigeants, il accompagne les organisations dans leur transformation Lean, avec des résultats mesurables et durables.
Son expertise réside dans la mise en œuvre concrète des systèmes mondialement reconnus de Toyota : il forme les dirigeants à bâtir un consensus grâce à la pensée A3, à atteindre l'amélioration continue grâce aux principes JKK et à promouvoir une culture d'excellence par une mise en œuvre authentique du leadership Lean.
Na diverse functies in de logistiek en de petroleumsector werkte Jan Hermans 20 jaar bij de Europese hoofdzetel van Toyota in Brussel. Binnen Human Resources was Jan verantwoordelijk voor organisatieontwikkeling, talentontwikkeling en opleiding en ontwikkeling. In deze rol trainde, coachte en begeleidde Jan medewerkers zowel in de productielocaties als in de commerciële organisatie van Toyota in heel Europa.
Jan is gecertificeerd trainer voor alle Global Toyota-programma’s, onder andere TBP (Toyota Business Practice of Problemen-Solving), Hoshin Kanri (Direction-Management), A3 (Consensus Building & Communication), PDCA, JKK (Jikotei Kanketsu) en TPS (Toyota Production System).
Hij specialiseerde zich eveneens in Management- en Leiderschapsontwikkeling binnen de Europese organisatie van Toyota.
Jan geeft sessies over Toyota Business Practice of Problem Solving (TBP), Jikotei Kanketsu (Geïntegreerde Kwaliteit), TPS voor de kantooromgeving, Hoshin Kanri of Direction Management, OJD (Ontwikkeling op de Werkvloer) en Lean Leiderschap (Toyota Management Development). Hij treedt ook op als Keynote Speaker en vertaalt Toyota's DNA naar toepasbare inzichten voor diverse sectoren. Als Executive Coach begeleidt hij bovendien organisaties in hun Lean-transformatie met meetbare, duurzame resultaten.
Zijn expertise schuilt in het vertalen van Toyota's wereldberoemde systemen naar de praktijk – hij leert leiders om via A3-denken consensus te bouwen, continue verbetering te realiseren via JKK-principes en excellente cultuur te bevorderen door authentieke Lean Leiderschapsimplementatie.