Infor VISUAL
| Vendor | Infor |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | New York, NY, USA |
| Ownership | Infor, owned by Koch Industries since 2020 |
| Deployment | On-premises (Windows/SQL Server) or partner-hosted; no multi-tenant SaaS |
| Support status | Actively sold and developed; VISUAL 11 released 2024; no announced end of life (as of August 2026) |
| Target market | Small and midsize order-driven discrete manufacturers (ETO/MTO, job shops, mixed-mode) |
| Industries | Industrial machinery, aerospace and defense suppliers, medical devices, high tech, automotive |
| Pricing | Not published; quoted via Infor and reseller channel |
| Website | infor.com/products/visual |
Overview
Infor VISUAL is an ERP system for small and midsize discrete manufacturers that build to order. It has been a fixture in American job shops and mixed-mode plants since the 1990s, and its reputation rests on one capability above all others: scheduling. VISUAL was designed around finite-capacity and drum-buffer-rope methods at a time when most mid-market systems still planned against infinite capacity. Infor continues to sell and develop the product, most recently with the VISUAL 11 release in 2024.
Vendor, history, ownership
The product started life as VISUAL Manufacturing at Lilly Software Associates in Hampton, New Hampshire, in the early 1990s, and later expanded into the broader VISUAL Enterprise suite. Infor acquired Lilly Software in October 2004 and has kept VISUAL as a distinct product line ever since. Infor itself is headquartered in New York City and has belonged to Koch Industries since 2020. VISUAL 11, the 2024 release, added what-if capacity scenarios, drag-and-drop operation prioritization for the shop floor, and schedule exports for analysis in spreadsheets.
Core functionality
Coverage follows the quote-to-cash cycle of an order-driven manufacturer: estimating and quoting, engineering and work orders, material requirements planning, purchasing, inventory, shop floor data collection, quality management, and financials. The scheduling engine handles infinite, finite, forward, and backward methods and effectively serves as a built-in APS layer, scheduling released work orders, planned orders, and even open quotes. Work-order costing compares projected against actual cost while the job is still on the floor, which is how most job shops actually use the system. Multi-site and multi-entity structures are supported for smaller corporate groups.
Best-fit companies
Picture a US job shop in the small to lower-middle market working engineer-to-order or make-to-order. That is the core customer. Infor names industrial machinery, aerospace and defense suppliers, medical devices, high tech, and automotive among the typical industries. For a product of this age the surrounding ecosystem counts as much as the feature list, and here it is genuinely healthy: an active North American reseller and user community means implementation, training, and support come from specialists rather than from a single vendor team.
Deployment and pricing
VISUAL runs on-premises on Windows and Microsoft SQL Server. Partners offer hosted single-tenant arrangements; a multi-tenant SaaS edition does not exist. Infor publishes no pricing, and licensing is quoted through Infor and its channel, typically as perpetual licenses with annual maintenance or on subscription terms. Our ERP TCO calculator helps normalize license, maintenance, and infrastructure costs over several years when quotes arrive in different shapes.
Our take
Few systems in this size class schedule as well, and the 2024 release shows the product is not frozen. The honest caveat is strategic rather than functional: Infor concentrates its cloud investment on the multi-tenant CloudSuites and positions CloudSuite Industrial as the cloud path for mid-market manufacturers, which puts VISUAL in a well-supported but non-strategic corner of the portfolio. If you are committed to on-premises operation and your competitive edge comes from promising accurate dates on complex jobs, that trade is worth making.
If you want a cloud-first roadmap, do not buy VISUAL. Evaluate CloudSuite Industrial instead and save yourself the detour. Existing customers face no announced end of life and no reason to panic, but tracking Infor's roadmap communications and keeping a migration option in view is simply prudent.
What the Infor VISUAL website looks like
Current view of the vendor homepage, captured by our editorial team.
