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Country benchmark · 2026

OEE benchmark Ireland 2026: manufacturing data, sector targets and downtime cost

Name: OEE Benchmark Ireland 2026: Manufacturing Data, Sector Targets, Downtime Cost
Creator: OEE Benchmark
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

The short answer: Manufacturing is 30.7% of gross value added in Ireland (2024) and employs about 291,550 people. Loaded labour cost in manufacturing is 40.8 EUR/h (2024), which is the number that turns an hour of downtime into money. Typical OEE in the country's leading sectors runs 35–92%; the sector world-class targets are in the table below.

Official manufacturing statistics for Ireland, the OEE ranges that apply to its leading sectors, a downtime-cost calculator preloaded with national labour and energy costs, and the incentives that can fund a monitoring project.

Key figures

Manufacturing share

30.7

% gross value added

2024 · ec.europa.eu

Manufacturing value added

164.1

EUR bn

2024 · ec.europa.eu

Manufacturing employment

291.6

thousand persons

2024 · ec.europa.eu

Manufacturing enterprises

19,416

2023 · ec.europa.eu

Labour cost (manufacturing)

40.8

EUR per hour

2024 · ec.europa.eu

Industrial electricity price

0.224

EUR per kWh

2024-S2 · ec.europa.eu

Robot density

not published in an official source we could read

Enterprises using AI

17.5

% of manufacturers (10+ employees)

2024 · ec.europa.eu

Leading sectors and the OEE ranges that apply

The first columns are Ireland's own sector mix (Central Statistics Office (CSO)). The OEE columns are the oee-benchmark.org editorial ranges for that sector type: they are benchmarks for plants, not national statistics.

Sector	Weight	Typical OEE	World-class target	Dominant loss	A × P × Q
Pharmaceuticals; computer, electronic & optical products (NACE 21 & 26, combined) Pharmaceuticals	GVA 112,237 M EUR current prices (≈23% of total economy GVA of 484,190 M EUR) (2023)	35–45%	70%	Validation & changeover	80% × 90% × 97%
Food, beverages & tobacco (NACE 10-12) Food & beverage	GVA 11,227 M EUR current prices (2023)	60–80%	82%	Changeover & startup losses	90% × 93% × 98%
Coke, refined petroleum & basic chemicals (NACE 19-20) Continuous process (chemical, pulp)	GVA 6,093 M EUR current prices (2023)	80–92%	92%	Unplanned stops	95% × 97% × 99.5%
Pharmaceuticals (C21) alone Pharmaceuticals	confidential in Eurostat SBS 2023 (flag C) (2023)	35–45%	70%	Validation & changeover	80% × 90% × 97%

Downtime cost calculator: Ireland defaults

Change any input and the result updates. The labour and electricity defaults are the national statistics quoted above, not your plant's figures; replace them with your own numbers for a real estimate.

Hours of unplanned downtime per monthLines or machines affectedOperators per lineLoaded labour cost per hour (EUR)Electricity price per kWh (EUR)Average load per line (kW)Lost contribution margin per hour (your figure) (EUR)

Estimated downtime cost

–

per year · – per month

labour–
energy–
lost margin–

Funding and incentives for monitoring projects (status October 2026)

Programmes a production-monitoring or OEE project can use. Status was checked on the operator's page in October 2026; anything we could not confirm is marked unverified.

Programme	Operator	What it funds	Status	Source
Digital Transition Fund	Enterprise Ireland (under Ireland's National Recovery and Resilience Plan, EU-funded)	Driving digital transformation of Irish enterprises, particularly SMEs; grant streams/amounts not readable on page (JS-rendered)	unverified	enterprise-ireland.com
Digital Process Innovation	Enterprise Ireland	Up to 50% grant funding towards internal implementation team and external expertise to implement new production or delivery methods (digital technologies)	open open (listed; no deadline stated)	enterprise-ireland.com
IDA Ireland grants & supports (Business Asset Grant, Business Development Programme – Digitalisation Consultancy Grant, Lean Digitalisation Business Offer, IDA Diagnostics, Training Grant, 'Go Green' Offer, RDI supports)	IDA Ireland	Supports for IDA client (FDI) companies covering capital investment, talent, R&D, competitiveness and sustainability; per-grant details in brochures	open open (listed; no deadlines stated)	idaireland.com

Trade shows and events 2026–2027

Event	City	Dates	Source
National Manufacturing & Supply Chain Expo 2027	Dublin (RDS Simmonscourt)	19–20 May 2027	manufacturingevent.com

Editor's note

Ireland's 30.7% manufacturing share of value added is distorted by multinational pharma and electronics contract manufacturing; the domestic base is food and engineering. Labour cost is 40.8 EUR per hour and electricity 0.22 EUR per kWh. Enterprise Ireland's Digital Process Innovation grant funds up to 50% of eligible costs, and IDA supports include a digitalisation consultancy grant.

How to use this benchmark

Measure first. Log availability, performance and quality per line for four weeks before comparing with the sector ranges; a benchmark without your own baseline is a guess.

Compare within your sector, not with the national average. A packaging line at 72% may be world-class; a bottling line at 72% has room.

Price the gap. Use the calculator with your own labour cost and margin, then check the incentives table: several programmes fund the sensors and software that close it.

Free download

Ireland OEE Benchmark Pack 2026

Excel workbook: country profile, hubs, sector OEE ranges, downtime-cost calculator and incentives, with every source linked.

Country profile and hub table with sources
Sector OEE ranges: typical, world-class, A×P×Q
Downtime-cost calculator preloaded with Ireland labour and energy costs
Incentives and 2026–2027 events

You're all set ✓

Your download should start automatically. If not, click here.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good OEE in Ireland?

There is no national OEE statistic: OEE is measured per line, and the useful comparison is by sector. For Ireland's leading sectors the typical range is 35–92% and the world-class targets are listed above. Most plants that start measuring sit near 60%.

Where do these figures come from?

Manufacturing weight, employment, labour cost, energy price and robot density come from official statistics (Central Statistics Office (CSO), Eurostat, the World Bank and the IFR); every figure links to the page it was read from. The OEE ranges are oee-benchmark.org editorial benchmarks.

What is in the Ireland benchmark pack?

An Excel workbook with the country profile and sources, the hub table, the sector OEE ranges, a downtime-cost calculator with the national defaults already filled in, and the incentives and events lists. It is free; we ask for a work email.

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Sources and method

Figures are quoted as published, with the year and unit of each source; we do not convert currencies or estimate missing values. OEE ranges follow the oee-benchmark.org editorial process. Published by TEEPTRAK SAS, which sells production-monitoring and OEE software.

Data checked October 2026