About William “Bill” Hicks

Hicks joined the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) as a full-time faculty member in August 2023 after spending two years as an adjunct lecturer. His areas of interest and teaching include facility design, lean manufacturing, engineering entrepreneurship, and capstone design. Hicks also serves as the Industry Liaison for the East Tennessee Initiative for Smart Energy Management (ETISE) and is a Fellow of the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation.

Prior to joining ISE, Hicks worked for the Tennessee Manufacturing Extension Partnership (TMEP), a part of the UT Center for Industrial Services (UT CIS), for 17 years. During this time, he served Tennessee manufacturers first as a technical consultant then later a project manager for the East Tennessee region (including Knox County and the surrounding counties). He also spent five years with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in various process/ continuous improvement roles.

Hicks learned lean manufacturing from spending 10 years in the Toyota Production System. This time was split between TOYODA TRW Automotive (now JTEKT) and TRW Koyo Steering (also now JTEKT). He spent two additional years in tier one automotive parts manufacturing with TRW and BTR.

Hicks is an alumnus of the University of Tennessee as well as a First Gen student and completed his bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering in 1991. During his student days, Bill was a participant in the Cooperative Engineering (Co-Op) program through the Office of Engineering Professional Practice as well as a member of Pi Tau Sigma, the National Honorary Mechanical Engineering Fraternity. Today, Bill is a professional member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and the Order of the Engineer.

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Education

BS in Mechanical Engineering, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (1991)