What is six sigma metrics?

Six sigma metrics are the different types of measurements used in six sigma methodology, in order to measure the success of the company’s product quality. It doesn’t means, the simple collection and calculation of the data and defects are enough for the attainment of the success. In order to get the right measurement through the use of six sigma metrics, a successful business should apply these metrics in the right context in a innovative ways so as to solve the customer’s critics to the quality of the products. Therefore there are certain steps and six sigma metrics, in six sigma methodology to be applied for the defect-free products.

Different types of Six Sigma Metrics:

The two major types of six sigma metrics are :  Classical measures of Six Sigma metrics and Typical Six Sigma Measures.

Classical Six Sigma Measures: Under which the measurement of the quality of timeliness, accuracy, ease of doing business and cost are taken into consideration. Classical six sigma measurement gives important to improve the quality of the above said aspects for the organization’s six sigma measurement framework.

Typical Six Sigma Measures: other six sigma measures come under the typical six sigma measurement. other types of six sigma measurement are rolled-throughput-yield, DPMO, six sigma tailor and critical-to -quality (CTQ).

Rolled-Throughput-Yield:

“Rolled-Throughput-Yield = Product of the Yields at all Steps in the Process”. Rolled throughput yield (RTY) is the percentage of the possibilities or probabilities, that can take place in a single unit, which passes through a series of process. This step is done to get a product of free of defects

Defects Per Million Opportunities (DPMO):

Six sigma metrics calculates the number of defects with in a process, procedures and service. This type of calculation which indicates the number of defects is know as DPMO or defects per million opportunities. Here the defects are measured in the number of millions of opportunities. To calculate the DPMO, defects per opportunity is calculated first. Once the defects per opportunity is obtained, that number should be multiplied by 1,000,000 to get DPMO.

Defects Per Opportunity (DPO):

This is the calculation made in six sigma metrics for finding out the total number of possible defects that can be counted in a service. The formula of the defects per opportunity, uses the number of defects and the number of units times that is the defect opportunities.

The formula for the calculation of defects per opportunity go like this:

DPO = Number of defects divided by the Number of units X Number of opportunities

number of defects

DPO = —————————————————————

number of units X number of opportunities

Critical To Quality (CTQ):

The measurable character critical to quality is the key to measure the product or process, whose performance standards must be met in order to satisfy the customer needs. This procedure is done on the basis of the customer’s requirements. CTQ gives the result of the product and the services through the customer’s definition. These definition includes the upper and lower specification limits. All the factors related to the product or service are also included to customer’s demand. The CTQ is invited from a qualitative customer. The CTQ should be actionable, and quantitative business specification. in general it is said that CTQ is something that the customer is expecting from the product that is the basic need of the customer.

Implementation of Six Sigma Metrics:

The first step to be taken for the implementation of six sigma metrics, is the collection of data that are sufficient, relevant, representative, contextual and timely. Type of metrics should be planned on the basis of these data collected. This is an important step, because if the data is not these attributes, the metric based on this data can bring out a bad assumptions and wrong conclusions.

Once sufficient data are collected, find out the type of metric to be applied. While selecting the metric, see to it whether the metric is actionable. The action ability of the metric helps the upper management to get the idea about the current levels and to decide whether those levels are acceptable or not.

The third section includes the presenting of the metrics in a clear format which gives a line of clear sight. This helps the upper management to get a quality metrics. More over it also helps the upper management to know about the actions taken to improve the metric, because this information is critical to the success of the business. Through this the upper management is able to find out the high-level metric and drill down the business to gain a better understanding about the root cause of the problems

Last but the least, the metrics should be presented in a simple manner, by presenting the most critical seven to twelve metrics, which is required to run the business successfully.