Funding a PFEP engagement
Irish state supports exist to fund PFEP and Lean advisory work — not the consultancy, the client. Here’s how they map to the engagement.
These are supports a client draws to pay for the work — the commercial engine that makes a phased PFEP engagement affordable. Each rail below maps to a stage of the engagement, and this practice’s day rate sits under the €900/day cap the Lean rails support.
Figures below are current to mid-2026 and subject to change.
LeanStart — Enterprise Ireland
80%, max €5,000 · 7 days · Diagnostic
Advisory/assessment work over 8–10 weeks. Client must be an EI client. Excludes IT-system installation and customisation — fits the diagnostic, not the build.
Lean for Business — Local Enterprise Office
LEO-administered · Diagnostic / Pilot
The LEO route for micro and small manufacturers outside the EI portfolio. Available through all 31 LEOs nationwide — terms vary by county — confirm with the local LEO.
LeanPlus — Enterprise Ireland
50%, max €50,000 grant · 6–9 months · Pilot / Core
The main build rail. Scope covers improved product planning, scheduling and supply-chain control systems — PFEP territory directly. Can part-fund internal staff time. €900/day cap on the external coach.
LeanTransform — Enterprise Ireland
Training grant · 12–24 months · Scale
Company-wide transformation for firms with existing Lean capability — the rail for a multi-site engagement. Open to companies of any size; grant rate varies by company size (up to 70% for small, 60% medium, 50% large).
Grow Digital Voucher — Local Enterprise Office
Up to €5,000, 50% · Reporting / Adoption
Toward software adoption — dashboards, operational tools. Can offset Power BI licensing and adoption. Requires a Digital for Business assessment first.
One thing every client should track
State aid of this kind is capped under the EU de minimis rule — €300,000 over a rolling three-year window, tracked per company. Since 1 January 2026, Ireland records this aid in a centralised register, so declarations are increasingly cross-checked rather than taken on trust. Worth raising early in any engagement so a client knows where they stand before stacking multiple rails.
Not sure which rail fits your business?
Grant eligibility gets checked as part of the initial scoping call — no separate application process to figure out alone.
Supply Chain Data Insights 