If you want to produce high quality products that meet customer expectations, then it is a good idea to have Six Sigma Green Belt Certification. This certification can be obtained by staff who have taken online or classroom Six Sigma training. Six Sigma professionals will examine the process to identify the areas of pain and suggest ways to improve it. The Six Sigma process calculates the number of defects it produces. There are various metrics used to evaluate defects: Defects per Unit (DPU), Defects per Opportunity (DPO) and Defects-per-Million-Opportunities (DPMO).
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This article will focus on the Six Sigma use of DPMO. These are the points we will be discussing:
What is Defects-Per- Million-Opportunities
5 steps to calculate process’s Defects-Per- Million-Opportunities
Defects-Per- Million-Opportunities (Formula and Illustration)
Why Defects-Per-Million-Opportunities
What does DPMO mean in Six Sigma?
Defects-Per- Million-Opportunities, which is abbreviated as DPMO. It is also known as NPMO, or Nonconformities Per Million Opportunities. It is the ratio of the number defect opportunities in a sample to their total number multiplied by 1,000,000. DPMO is a measure of long-term process performance. It measures the process’s error rate. This metric shows how well your process is at avoiding making mistakes. This requires you to think in reverse.
5 Steps to Calculate DPMO
There are five steps to calculate process’s Defects-per-Million-Opportunities. The four initial stages of DPMO calculation look similar to the Defects Per Opportunity (DPO) calculation.
Step 1: Calculating DPMO
The first step is to determine how many units will be sampled. Also, you need to determine the size of the sample group. As a general rule, the sample size should not exceed 100 people. However, it should be small enough that the problem can be addressed.
Step 2: Calculating DPMO
The second step is to determine how many defect opportunities are per unit. The following methods will be used to identify opportunities:
A list of possible defects or errors per product or service unit that customers will be interested in is a good idea.
Instead of focusing on the possible problems, but the places and processes that could lead to them,
Instead of focusing on rare defects or errors, focus on the routine.
Combining or merging related defects into one category
During this process, it is important to remember the Voice of Customer. Clients may value certain features of the products while others might be just nice-to-haves. You should focus on the features that have the greatest impact on customer satisfaction.
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Step 3: Calculating DPMO
The third step is to determine how many defect opportunities there are for the sample size under consideration. This is done by multiplying each unit in the sample group by the number defect opportunities per unit.
Step 4: Calculating DPMO
The fourth step is to count all the potential defective opportunities in the sample group. The fourth step is to count the opportunities that are defective or erroneous within the sample group. It is important that the sample group is representative of the entire population. The sample group must be large enough that it can be meaningful but small enough that it is manageable.
Step 5: Calculating DPMO
The fifth and final step is to divide the total defect by the total opportunities, which gives us the DPO. Then we multiply the DPO by 1 million to obtain the Defects-per-Million-Opportunities. This value provides a long-term view of the process’ efficiency.
Here’s an example of how to calculate DPMO
Here’s a quick illustration.
