How to calculate Defect Per Million Opportunities (DPMO)

DPMO is a common metric of Six Sigma. The DPMO is the ratio between the number of defects discovered and the number of opportunities for defects, multiplied by 1,000,000. For example, there are 3 processes to produce a pencil. Process 1 produces three defects, process 2 produces five defects, and process 3 produces one defect.


The output are 100 pencils and the DPMO is calculated like this:
Total number of defects= 3+5+1=9 defects
Opportunities of defects= 100*3=300
DPMO=(9/300)*1,000,000
DPMO=30,000

This number shows that there are 30,000 defects per millions.
Note that Six sigma initiative strives for 3.4 defects per millions.

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