How to do six sigma calculations in Excel and measure the process quality level

The Six Sigma methodology. It is created to obtain a better calculation regarding performance and thus collect information to obtain a statistical model with professional quality. That is why we will teach you how to do six sigma calculations in Excel and measure the quality level of the process.

To perform Six Sigma calculations in Excel and measure the process quality level, you can follow these steps in a tabular format. This guide will focus on calculating the DPMO (Defects Per Million Opportunities) and the Sigma Level, which are key metrics in Six Sigma methodology.

Step 1: Define Your Process and Opportunities for Defects

1. Process Step: List each step of the process.
2. Opportunity for Defect: Define what constitutes an opportunity for a defect at each step.

Step 2: Data Collection

1. Number of Units Processed: Record the total number of units processed.
2. Defects Found: Count the number of defects at each process step.

Step 3: Calculate DPMO

1. Total Opportunities (TO): Calculate total opportunities for defects (Number of Units Processed × Number of Opportunities per Unit).
2. Defects Per Million Opportunities (DPMO): DPMO=Total DefectsTotal Opportunities×1,000,000DPMO=Total OpportunitiesTotal Defects​×1,000,000.

Step 4: Calculate Sigma Level

1. Sigma Level: Use the DPMO to find the corresponding Sigma Level from a standard Six Sigma table.

Six Sigma focuses on reducing and understanding process defects when creating a product, examining repetitive processes and perfecting the quality it provides. How? Correcting problems before they occur. Providing a management and quality model that has 5 phases to ensure success:

1. Define: Take into account which are the elements that will be subject to an evaluation.
2. Measure: Seeks to know the status of the product, and if it has any defect.
3. Analyze: The cause of the problem is sought.
4. Improve: All necessary measures are taken to improve said problem and make it free of defects.
5. Control: Through measures an effective continuity of the process is guaranteed.

As a new entrepreneur you will surely want to implement this method in your place of employment, to be more successful when offering a product. Fortunately, Excel has different formulas that can help us, let’s see below how to do six sigma calculations and measure the quality level of the process.

Six sigma calculations in Excel

It is very easy to calculate this format in Excel. Here’s how to do it:

• You should have added a table with rows and columns that contain your activities, entries, defects and opportunities .
• Let’s take as an example: a pizza sale where you will have to take into account activities such as the preparation of the dough, baking and customer delivery.
• Upon finding the inputs and defects of it, we will break down each part of the process.
• Now, through the DPMO you will find the defect per million opportunities.
• You will need to calculate it before starting this step by step.
• Once this is done, let’s start looking for the conversion value in the 6 sigma table that you can obtain on the internet.
• Convert each of the values ​​obtained in DPMO and get the elements that are approximated. In this way, you will already have your DPMO sigma level  from an Excel table.

Yeld and Z in tables for six sigma calculation in Excel

• In the same way, you will have to previously calculate the yeld and obtain the events free of defects.
• To calculate the percentage you must create an Excel table with these data
• In another box, multiply each of these results by 100 , and look for data that approximates in the six sigma table to find that percentage of value.

The above methods are approximate values, but if you want an exact value this is the best option for you. You must create a table of “inverse standard normal distribution” with this formula so that you can calculate the sigma.

• You will only have to enter the formula, make a parenthesis and add the value free of defects, press enter and then lower this formula to the last box.
• Finally, just to get the sigma value, you should add without error the value of the operation you performed + 1.5 and it would automatically give you the sigma value of the operation, giving exact and more approximate values.

In this way you can calculate the sigma level of each of your processes easily with any of these elements, choose the one of your preference in order to have a guaranteed success.

What benefits will you get by sticking with six sigma?

First, the characteristics of your product will be improved, generating greater income. In addition, you will save money, avoiding future damage due to an error .

You really get a lot of benefits from generating this method. We hope that the information provided today will help you to have a better business quality and full of success. Don’t forget to share.