Throughput Yield

Throughput Yield is a Lean Six Sigma metric indicating the ability of the process to produce defect-free units. The Throughput Yield (Yt) is calculated using the Defects per Unit (DPU). As such, it provides more information than the classic Yield metric, which considers the number of defective units rather than the total number of defects occurring on those units. The classic yield estimate also often only considers defects that are passed onto the customer, ignoring defects that are corrected (reworked), a source of internal waste.

Example: Find 60 errors for 6 critical characteristics on 20 orders in a random sample of 400 orders

The Defective Rate is the percent of units that have one or more defects on them. In this example, there are 20 orders that have one or more critical defects in a random sample of 400 orders, so the Defective Rate is 5%. (20 defectives/400 units = 0.05). This corresponds to a Yield (the percent of units that have no defects) of 95%.

Defects Per Unit DPU = 60 defects / 400 units = 0.15 = 15%

Throughput Yield Yt = (1 – DPU) = (1 - 0.15) = 0.85 = 85%

Interpretation: On average, 85% of units will have no defects

See also: Rolled Throughput Yield for the resulting yield of a multiple-step process

Learn more about the Lean Six Sigma principles and tools for process excellence in Six Sigma Demystified (2011, McGraw-Hill) by Paul Keller, in his online Lean Six Sigma DMAIC short course ($249), or his online Green Belt certification course ($499).