The components of the red bead experiment include a box of 4,000 wooden beads (800 red and 3,200 white), a paddle with fifty bead size depressions, a second smaller box for mixing the beads, six willing workers, two inspectors who make independent counts, a chief inspector who verifies the counts, an accountant who records the counts and a customer who will not accept red beads. The job is to produce white beads and the standard for each worker is fifty white beads per day.
The daily production operation for each worker includes: 1) poring the beads from the first box into the second box and then back into the first box (to mix the beads), 2) dipping the paddle into the first box without shaking it, 3) carrying the loaded paddle to each inspector for separate counts and then verification, and 4) dumping the day’s work back into the supply box. The six workers perform this operation four times to represent four days’ work. The results of one of Deming’s experiments appear in Table 1.