📉 Quality
Defect Rate Calculator – PPM, DPMO & Sigma Level
Calculate your process defect rate in PPM (Parts Per Million), DPMO and find your equivalent Sigma quality level.
Each unit may have multiple defects
Number of ways a single unit can fail (e.g. 5 inspection criteria = 5 opportunities)
📊 Defect Rate Results
Defect Rate (%)
—
PPM (Parts Per Million)
—
DPU (Defects Per Unit)
—
DPMO
—
Sigma Level
—
How This Calculator Works
PPM = (Defects ÷ Total Units) × 1,000,000
DPU = Total Defects ÷ Total Units
DPMO = DPU ÷ Opportunities × 1,000,000
Sigma Level Reference
| Sigma | DPMO | Yield |
|---|---|---|
| 6σ | 3.4 | 99.9997% |
| 5σ | 233 | 99.977% |
| 4σ | 6,210 | 99.38% |
| 3σ | 66,807 | 93.32% |
🔗 Related Calculators
PPM vs DPMO — When to Use Each
PPM is used when each unit either passes or fails as a whole. DPMO (used in Six Sigma) accounts for the fact that complex products have many opportunities to fail. A circuit board with 200 solder joints has 200 failure opportunities per unit — DPMO normalizes for this complexity and allows fair comparison across different processes and products.