Infor VISUAL vs. SAP Manufacturing Execution

I struggle to identify a scenario where VISUAL is an appropriate solution. We used VISUAL because it was a legacy system and the cost/complexity of changeover seemed daunting. The user interface is poor as is the interconnectedness of the various screens and menus. This might be an acceptable piece of software for a continuous manufacturing environment with little variation of basic design, but we have had to write multiple add-on macros in order to get VISUAL to work effectively for us.

Incentivized

SAP Manufacturing Execution is suitable for desecrate manufacturing. For the complex routing of the product, this software ensures users do not by mistake start executing the wrong steps. This is the best tool to track and work on nonconformance and rework scenarios. This is most suitable when the landscape has SAP ERP in place.

Incentivized

• Infor Visual has a standard way of addressing business operations: sales orders, invoicing, reporting. It is easy to train operators used to using a manual or other ERP system.
• Material control is easy for production runs, R&D material lists and repairs. The process of receiving, issuing and returning material to inventory is facilitated by standard interfaces that are easily learned by material control operators.
• Engineering changes to bills of material are facilitated by the "engineering Master" flexible editing capability. The version control for the BOM's can be as detailed or vague as the process designed dictates. One item of a BOM or the entire BOM can be changed quickly and approved for production that day.

Incentivized

• Visual routing ensures the production line layout is as appropriate as shown on the application.
• Production house needs a lot of data to do an in-process inspection of the product. ERP might not need that. SAP ME provides that place to do every data collection.
• Nonconformance functionality ensures when needed the product goes to the appropriate station to get repaired. Also, data collection can raise NC and can move the product to a particular station to get an issue corrected.
• All the information is well integrated with SAP ERP and makes SAP ME more valuable for the organization.
• SAP MII also comes along with SAP ME helps to get the application well integrated with the shop floor equipment.

Incentivized

• VTA has been extremely unreliable. I would not recommend it. It is not customizable at all. There is no logical way to handle shift differentials which is a huge issue with a company that runs 24/7.
• If you do not have a schedule set up, they cannot clock in. This poses a problem for anyone that gets called in on a shift they don't normally work on.

Incentivized

• ODS or the BI part of the ME needed more improvement.
• The archiving job needs to be more robust.
• Database indexes need to me more analyzed and setup as per the organization requirement.
• SAP MII UI integration plugin to be developed for increased usability of this application.

Incentivized

Good Technical and Customer Support during and after implementation tasks. Good Project Plan and Management support for implementation and post implementation. Financial functionality could be more comprehensive particularly with Budgeting and Cash Management. Inventory Management capability was adequate but could be more comprehensive as well. "Out of the Box" functionality was adequate but requested add-ons and enhancements seemed to be a bit pricey.

Because of use cases and easy implementation and the vertical and horizontal scaling.

Incentivized

As we have seen the live environment and the use cases where we implement.

Incentivized

Could have used more hands-on approach. There are multiple webinars and information sessions but until you actually use the system, these are not very helpful.

Incentivized

We unfortunately did not evaluate any other ERP software. VISUAL was a legacy system and we determined that changing systems would be too difficult, and not cost effective. We reached out to our local VISUAL rep who knew how the software functioned, but not how to apply it more appropriately to our business model, so we continued on with what we had rather than looking elsewhere.

Incentivized

There was no product evaluated before using SAP ME. This replaced the custom homegrown MES system. The custom MES system had a lot of issues with the integration with SAP ERP. While evaluating the situation, SAP MII was the initial tool used to create the integration of the custom MES. We later found the fully functional tool SAP ME off the shelf had several functionalities out of the box.

Incentivized

• I cannot comment on business impact.

Incentivized

• Production house is more efficient now.
• Less paperwork improved means less unproductive work on the shop floor.
• Regulatory audits are more efficient.

Incentivized