Frequently Asked Questions

Lean can help any business by bringing transparency to the processes that deliver your products of services to your customers. Once you and your team can see the issues and challenges in the process, lean has some simple but really effective tools to minimize or eliminate those issues. The result is a process that is simpler, repeatable and therefore more effective in delivering the right product/service, at the right cost and at the right time.

Lean tools and techniques are helping companies across Ireland to address competitiveness issues within their businesses by building the capability of their people to identify problems, improve operations and create a more innovative organisation.

We have delivered many lean programs and it’s fair to say that they have always delivered a significant improvement for our clients.  You can look at our case studies at your convenience to look at the type of results companies can achieve. 

The length of time from application to approval varies, depending on the type of funding being sought i.e. there is a higher level of interaction and information exchange between EI and the IDA advisor and you, the client, for the higher funding, but it would be reasonable to expect the approval process to be completed in 3 – 8 weeks. Again the project completion time line depends on the size of lean program you are applying/approved for, the starter program is 7 days generally delivered over 2 – 3 months. The Lean Plus program is generally in the 6 -12 month time frame and the Lean Transform up to 3 years. You can read the detailed information on the funding offers on the EI/IDA websites but here’s a quick summary that you may find helpful.

The Lean Business Offer is made up of three levels of support:

1.       Lean Start :

Eligible Cost Elements	Eligible Costs	Eligible Grant
External Adviser/trainer	€6,300 based on 7 days advisory services at rate of €900/day. Actual costs based on market rates may be higher	€5,000 based on a grant of up to 80% of eligible costs

2.       LeanPlus 

Eligible Cost Elements	Eligible Costs	Eligible Grant
External Lean Training/Advisory costs provided by a Service Provider on the EI directory, capped at €900 per day. Internal salary cost of up to 3 company ‘Lean project champions’, up to 50% of the total project cost, subject to a combined max. of 250 days at €200 per day.	Up to €100,000 in eligible expenditure. Actual company spend may be higher	50% of eligible costs up to a maximum of €50,000

3.       LeanTransform 

Eligible Cost Elements	Eligible Costs	Eligible Grant
trainers' and trainees personnel costs, for the hours during which the trainers participate in the training;	Eligible external trainer costs are capped at €900 per day including expenses. Internal staff time (trainer or trainee) is based on actual pay rates to a cap of €350 per day.	The maximum grant rate is based on a percentage of eligible costs and depends on company size; Small – 70%, Medium – 60%,  Large – 50%
trainers' and trainees' operating costs directly relating to the training project such as travel expenses, materials and supplies	Travel and subsistence expenses are allowed as per standard EI policy where deemed reasonable.
costs of expert advisory services linked to the training project for advice and guidance on training programme implementation and appraisal as well as benchmarking / diagnostics where appropriate	Costs of advisory services are capped at €900 per day including expenses, limited to  a maximum of 10% of the total eligible training project spend up to a project maximum of €200,000.

Each level of support is characterized by increasing levels of capability in implementing Lean business principles and other best practice approaches to drive company awareness, adoption and integration of Lean tools and techniques.

In general, Enterprise Ireland support Irish SME’s involved in manufacturing or International Traded Services. The IDA provide funding support to companies (potential/current) who are considering foreign direct investment in Ireland. You can check if you have the potential to be an Enterprise Ireland or IDA Client by looking at the eligibility criteria on each of their websites, or contact us and we will help you to check it out.

Like anything else, applying for funding for the 1^st time may seem daunting but it is quite straight forward. The eligibility and application steps are all highlighted in the Enterprise Ireland Website under Productivity and Business Process Improvement Supports and on the IDA site under ‘How We Help’ Funding Sources and Incentives.  Expertivity have delivered many Lean Programs and are always happy to support our clients with the application process.