Spartanburg, S.C. Today, BMW Manufacturing announced five new senior management appointments.

Sherry McCraw has been named the new Vice President of Assembly. McCraw was one of the first BMW Associates hired at Plant Spartanburg in 1993. She has worked in several areas of assembly production, planning, engineering and technology. Since 2013, she has served as Vice President of Finance and Compliance.

McCraw replaces Dirk Hilgenberg, who will return to Munich as the Head of Production System, Technical Planning, Tool Shop, and Plant Construction.

Replacing McCraw will be Stefan Diregger, the new Vice President of Finance and Compliance. Diregger has worked at the BMW Group for 20 years, most recently as the General Manager of Plant Finance for Plant Rosslyn in South Africa. He has also served as the General Manager for Logistics and Powertrain and the Manager of Financial Controlling/Industrial Engineering at the BMW Group.

Andreas Guecker, who has served as Vice President of Total Vehicle, Quality Management, and Plant Projects since 2014, will now assume a new role as Vice President of Integration Product Projects for BMW Plant Spartanburg. Guecker has been with the BMW Group since 1999 and has worked in numerous roles related to quality, testing, verification and planning.

Replacing Guecker will be Siegfried Mueller, the new Vice President of Total Vehicle, Quality Management, and Plant Projects. Mueller has worked for more than 20 years at BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC Press Information

the BMW Group with experience in the development and launch of multiple vehicle projects – including the X1, X5, X5 plug-in hybrid, and X6. He has also served in quality management for both national and international functions. Most recently, he was Vice President, Manufacturing Concept Luxury Class, in Munich, Germany.

Murat Aksel has been named Vice President of Purchasing and Supplier Network, Americas. Aksel joined the BMW Group in 2009 as Head of Purchasing and Supplier Network for Body and Exterior Parts. For the past two and a half years, he has been the Head of Process Chain Chassis and Driving Dynamics. Before BMW, Aksel served in a number of executive positions with Adam Opel AG and GM-FIAT.

Aksel replaces Franz Linner, who has been appointed as Vice President, Supplier Support NAFTA, for the BMW Group.

BMW Manufacturing produces the BMW X3, X4, X5 and X6 Sports Activity Vehicles and Coupes (and their variants). The factory currently produces 1,400 vehicles each day, exporting 70 percent of these vehicles to 140 global markets. Last year, the Spartanburg plant produced 411,171 vehicles, making it the largest BMW plant in the world by volume. The Plant has a production capacity of 450,000 vehicles and employs more than 9,000.