For about 50 years I have been writing, speaking and teaching about quality, in Britain, Japan and around the world. Much of that work was on paper: conference papers, newsletters and press articles. Some of it was on film.
This Library brings it together, one piece at a time. Some of it is history: how Quality Circles came to Britain, and what we learned from Japan. Much of it is still relevant, because many of the mistakes I warned about in the 1980s are still being made today.
New items are added regularly, each with a short note from me on why it still matters.
You are welcome to quote from anything here, with acknowledgement.
- Circle Review – December 1981 (Vol 1 Issue 2)
- Circle Review February 1983
Circle Review, February 1983: Quality Month in March, and Quality Circle conventions across Britain. - What Japan can do… (1979)
First published in Quality Assurance News, August 1979. Why it still matters: in 1979 I argued that Japan’s success owed little to culture and much to management policy, above all trusting and training the people who do the work. “The foreman could well be regarded as Britain’s forgotten asset.” Nearly 50 years on, many organisations still forget them. - Quality Circles in Japan: a paper for discussion (1988)
Presented by David Hutchins at the NSQC Conference, Warwick, 1988. Why it still matters I found this paper in my archive during World Quality Month 2026. I wrote it after visiting Japan in 1987 and the United States in 1988. In 1986 Toyota alone received over 2.6 million suggestions from 60,000 people, and put over… Read more: Quality Circles in Japan: a paper for discussion (1988)
