Sven Hicken was named head of Oerlikon’s additive manufacturing business in October 2018. He is responsible for Oerlikon’s growing global additive manufacturing business, which employs about 300 people and comprises seven production facilities in three countries: Germany, the US and China.
Prior to joining Oerlikon, Sven spent most of his career in the automotive industry, bringing with him key insights into the challenges faced by Oerlikon customers and vast experience in managing global teams. Sven spent more than 20 years at BMW, Munich, in a variety of roles. Beginning with various project and R&D managerial roles, he was named Vice President, Strategy, Finance, Logistics and Quality Painted Body in 2005. He went on to hold vice president roles in production and product strategy, culminating in his final position as Vice President, Purchasing Quality Body, responsible for the worldwide purchasing and quality of body components for BMW.
Sven holds a degree in mechanical engineering from Technical University Munich, where his focus was on manufacturing technologies. He earned his PhD at RWTH Aachen, with a dissertation on spot welding aluminum. He is active in the ACOD, Automotive Cluster of Eastern Germany, which seeks to advance the automobile industry in the eastern part of the country.
Sven is married and has two children. An avid football fan, especially Bayern München, he also enjoys participating in many sports, especially biking.
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