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DHU Calculator — Defects per Hundred Units
Monitor and control quality rates on your apparel production floors. Calculate Defects per Hundred Units (DHU) and Defect rates reactively, incorporating structured categories for stitching, measurement, fabric, and trims. No account needed — numbers update as you type.
DHU captures the density of quality errors. Unlike the Defect Rate (which measures defective units), DHU represents the full workload required to correct and repair garments.
Step By Step
How to Use This Calculator
5 steps
- Enter the total number of units inspected at the quality table.
- Input the total count of defective units (garments containing one or more defects).
- Use the Defect Category Log to record specific sewing faults (stitching, measurement, fabric, trims) to auto-fill total defect numbers.
- Review the resulting DHU and Defect Rate percentages.
- Observe the colored quality status badge (Excellent, Good, or Critical) corresponding to standard RMG AQL thresholds.
Worked Example
Worked Example — Casual T-Shirt Batch Quality Audit
Use this sample to sanity-check your inputs and understand what the final result represents.
- 1Total units inspected: 500 pieces
- 2Defective units found: 8 pieces
- 3Total defects counted: 10 defects (some garments contain multiple stitching errors)
- 4DHU (%): (10 ÷ 500) × 100 = 2.0%
- 5Defect Rate (%): (8 ÷ 500) × 100 = 1.6%
Final Result
Quality status is marked as 'Excellent' since both DHU and Defect Rates are within top-tier AQL boundaries.
Methodology
Quality Performance Formulas
This section explains the calculation logic, assumptions, and source material used to make the result more trustworthy and easier to verify.
Defects per Hundred Units (DHU %) = (Total Defects Found ÷ Total Units Inspected) × 100. Defect Rate (%) = (Total Defective Units Found ÷ Total Units Inspected) × 100. Source: ISO 2859-1 Quality Sampling Standards; BGMEA Quality Assurance Guidelines.
Practical Guidance
Quality assurance strategies for apparel plants
- 1Establish quality checkpoints at critical bottleneck operations rather than inspecting only at the end of the line.
- 2Record defect locations on standard garment maps to identify machinery alignment errors or pattern issues.
- 3Train sewing operators to perform a 7-point self-inspection check on their own work to reduce final inspection reject levels.
- 4Display real-time DHU tracking charts on production lines to motivate sewing teams to achieve quality benchmarks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does DHU stand for and how is it calculated?+
DHU stands for Defects per Hundred Units. It is a critical quality control metric in garment manufacturing. The formula is: DHU = (Total Number of Defects Found ÷ Total Units Inspected) × 100. It measures the total volume of defects, meaning a single garment with three separate stitching issues counts as three defects, reflecting the actual repair workload required in the finishing department.
What is the difference between DHU and Defect Rate?+
DHU counts the absolute number of defects found, whereas Defect Rate (or Defective Percentage) counts the number of defective garments. For example, if you inspect 100 garments and find 5 defective pieces, but 2 of those pieces have 2 defects each, the Defect Rate is 5% (5 defective units out of 100), but the DHU is 7.0 (7 total defects found across the 100 units). DHU is a superior metric for tracking sewing floor quality because it captures defect density.
Why can DHU be higher than the Defect Rate?+
DHU measures the total count of defects, whereas Defect Rate measures defective garments. Since a single garment can have multiple distinct defects, DHU can often exceed the Defect Rate.
What is an acceptable DHU level in garment factories?+
In the Bangladesh RMG export sector, world-class factories aim for a DHU of under 2.0% at the end-of-line inspection, while an average acceptable industry standard ranges between 3.0% and 5.0%. DHU levels exceeding 6.0% indicate critical machine calibration or operator training issues, prompting immediate quality check loops (Kaizen or red-tag tables) to prevent massive alteration and rejection costs.
What is AQL in the apparel industry?+
AQL stands for Acceptable Quality Limit. It defines the maximum percentage of defects considered acceptable during random audits under standard sampling rules like ISO 2859-1.