Meet Josette: Mind Mixer In Chief

Last updated: 9 June 2021

Josette has big dreams – and, lucky for us, she’s set on making them a reality.

“I think after my life on this planet, I want to leave a good mark – a little part of a better world from me. That's my mission,” says Josette, Director of Arvida Research & Development Centre (ARDC).

The ARDC is a part of the innovation hub for our high-end aluminium product development, the Aluminium Technology Solution group. It’s home to a lot of our breakthroughs over the years – like Revolution-AL™, a new alloy designed to make lighter and stronger car wheels to help reduce CO₂ emissions.

The ARDC team has a big goal: Advance the aluminum industry with cutting-edge R&D and support our goal of creating a more sustainable future.

“We’re constantly looking for ways to reduce our environmental impact. And to do that, we have to believe it’s possible,” Josette says.

The key to realising ambitious innovation goals, Josette says, is “mind mixing.”

What’s “mind mixing,” you ask? It’s putting the right kinds of brains in the room – a diverse set of expertise across our operations, engineering teams, university partners and customers – to find the sweet spot of creativity and innovation.

And these kinds of “mind mixing” partnerships have a stellar track record: Revolution-AL^™ was made possible with the help of our customers, who joined us to trial and test the alloy before launch.

Being on the forefront of aluminium innovation requires having a constant eye on what’s next for the industry. Josette proudly refers to her ARDC team as an “innovation machine” that’s designed to find exciting opportunities and fresh ideas where there weren’t ones before.

“We’re always looking for the next idea to improve our products or come up with a more sustainable way to make them – whether it comes from listening to a customer’s suggestion or making space for a team member’s insights.”

Tapping into her former life as a coach of children’s league baseball, Josette says innovation has a lot to do with getting the right team on the field – just like it does on the baseball diamond.

“It’s about empowering people to be the best they can, to help them come up with ideas and think outside of the box,” Josette says. “Together, our goal is to develop solutions that will make sure that in the future, we will continue to deliver aluminium that’s more and more sustainable.”

And if they’re successful? Well, as they say in baseball, that’s a grand slam.