How to Create Equipment and Equipment Categories in Odoo 18
By Braincuber Team
Published on February 24, 2026
IronBridge Fabrication is a mid-size metal fabrication shop in Cincinnati with 26 CNC machines, 8 welding stations, 4 hydraulic presses, and a paint booth that runs two shifts. When the shop floor manager, Carl, joined the company three years ago, equipment tracking was done on a whiteboard near the break room. Somebody would scribble "Press #2 — oil leak, called Mike" and that was the maintenance record. No history, no cost tracking, no way to predict when a machine would fail next. The year before Carl arrived, unplanned downtime cost the company an estimated $180,000 in missed production deadlines and emergency repair bills.
Carl set up Odoo 18's Maintenance module during a slow period in January. He created equipment categories for every class of machine in the shop, registered each piece of equipment with its serial number, vendor, warranty date, and assigned technician, configured maintenance teams, and linked machines to their respective work centers. Within six months, preventive maintenance requests were being generated automatically, the average repair time dropped from 6.2 hours to 3.8 hours because technicians had all the equipment history on screen, and Carl could predict failures with surprising accuracy using the MTBF data Odoo calculated. This guide covers every step of that setup.
What You Will Learn: How to create and configure maintenance teams, set up work centers and link equipment to them, define equipment categories for organized asset management, register individual equipment with full product and maintenance details, and understand reliability metrics like MTBF and MTTR.
Why Equipment Management Matters in Manufacturing
Reduce Unplanned Downtime
IronBridge's unplanned downtime dropped 42% in the first year. When every machine has a maintenance history and predicted failure date, technicians fix problems before they shut down production.
Track Costs Per Asset
Each equipment record stores purchase cost, vendor, and warranty expiration. Carl discovered that one CNC machine was costing $14,000/year in repairs — more than a lease on a replacement. That data drove a capital expense decision.
Clear Responsibility
Every machine is assigned to a technician and a maintenance team. When something breaks, nobody asks "who handles this?" The system routes the request to the right person immediately.
Setting Up Maintenance Teams
Before registering any equipment, you need maintenance teams in place. These are the groups of technicians and engineers who will be assigned to handle maintenance requests.
Click New to create a team. Fill in the team name, select the company, and assign team members. IronBridge set up three teams:
| Team Name | Members | Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| CNC & Machining | Mike R., Tony S., Jess P. | All CNC lathes, mills, and routers |
| Welding & Metal Forming | Luis G., Karen T. | Welding stations, hydraulic presses, bending machines |
| Facilities & Paint | Dave M., Sam K. | Paint booth, HVAC, compressors, overhead cranes |
Why Three Teams? Carl split teams by machine type rather than by shift because CNC equipment requires specialized knowledge that welding technicians do not have. Grouping by expertise means the right person always gets the ticket. If your shop has generalist technicians, you might only need one or two teams.
Configuring Work Centers
Work centers represent the physical locations where manufacturing operations happen. Each work center is tied to specific equipment and is used for scheduling, costing, and capacity planning.
Click New and fill in the work center details:
| Field | Purpose | IronBridge Example |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Descriptive name for the work center | CNC Bay A |
| Tag | Labels for filtering and grouping | Precision Cutting |
| Alternative Work Centers | Backup locations if this center is at capacity | CNC Bay B |
| Working Hours | Shift schedule for this work center | Mon–Fri, 6 AM – 10 PM (two shifts) |
| Hourly Cost | Operating cost per hour for job costing | $85/hour |
| OEE Target | Overall Equipment Effectiveness goal | 85% |
| Capacity | Number of units that can run simultaneously | 4 machines |
Linking Equipment to Work Centers
Inside the work center form, switch to the Equipment tab. Click Add a line to assign machines to this work center. Each line shows the equipment name, category, and assigned technician. IronBridge's CNC Bay A has four machines linked:
Equipment Name | Category | Technician ------------------------|-----------------|------------ Haas VF-2SS CNC Mill | CNC Machines | Mike R. Mazak QTN-200 Lathe | CNC Machines | Mike R. Doosan DNM 5700 Mill | CNC Machines | Tony S. Brother Speedio S700X1 | CNC Machines | Jess P.
Creating Equipment Categories
Categories group similar equipment together so you can apply consistent maintenance policies, filter reports, and assign category-level responsibilities. Think of them as folders for your machines.
Click New and fill in the category name, company, and responsible person. IronBridge defined these categories:
| Category | Equipment Count | Responsible Person |
|---|---|---|
| CNC Machines | 26 | Mike R. (Lead CNC Tech) |
| Welding Stations | 8 | Luis G. (Senior Welder) |
| Hydraulic Presses | 4 | Karen T. |
| Paint & Finishing | 2 | Dave M. |
| Material Handling | 6 | Sam K. |
| Compressors & HVAC | 5 | Sam K. |
Keep Categories Specific: Carl originally lumped all metal-forming equipment into one category. Within two months, he split "Metal Forming" into "Hydraulic Presses" and "Welding Stations" because they require completely different maintenance skills and parts. Too-broad categories defeat the purpose of categorization.
Registering Individual Equipment
With teams, work centers, and categories in place, you can now register each piece of equipment. This is the core record that ties everything together.
General Information
| Field | Purpose | Example: Haas VF-2SS |
|---|---|---|
| Equipment Name | Descriptive name for identification | Haas VF-2SS CNC Mill |
| Equipment Category | Links to the category you created | CNC Machines |
| Company | Legal entity that owns the asset | IronBridge Fabrication LLC |
| Used By | Department, Employee, or Other | Department: CNC Machining |
| Maintenance Team | Team responsible for this equipment | CNC & Machining |
| Technician | Primary person assigned to this machine | Mike R. |
Product Information Tab
This tab stores the commercial details of the machine:
| Field | IronBridge Example |
|---|---|
| Vendor | Haas Automation Inc. |
| Model | VF-2SS |
| Serial Number | SN-2019-VF2SS-0847 |
| Vendor Reference | PO-2019-00234 |
| Effective Date | March 15, 2019 |
| Cost | $62,500 |
| Warranty Expiration | March 15, 2024 |
Maintenance Tab — Reliability Metrics
The Maintenance tab is where Odoo tracks and calculates the reliability data that makes predictive maintenance possible:
Expected MTBF
The anticipated average time between failures. Set this when you first register the equipment based on manufacturer specs. IronBridge's Haas VF-2SS has an expected MTBF of 2,400 operating hours.
Actual MTBF
Calculated from historical failure data. After a year of tracking, IronBridge's Haas showed an actual MTBF of 1,850 hours — lower than spec, which triggered an investigation into coolant quality.
Estimated Next Failure
Odoo predicts when the next failure might occur based on past trends. This is the field Carl checks weekly to schedule preventive maintenance before breakdowns happen.
MTTR
Mean Time To Repair — the average hours needed to fix this machine. IronBridge's Haas averages 3.2 hours MTTR. If a machine's MTTR is climbing, it signals aging or a parts supply issue.
Best Practices from IronBridge
Register Equipment Before You Need It
Carl spent a full week entering all 51 pieces of equipment during a slow production period. If you wait until a breakdown to start registering machines, you will be entering serial numbers while production is stopped. Do the data entry up front.
Record Warranty Dates Religiously
IronBridge caught $8,200 in warranty-covered repairs that they would have paid out of pocket if the warranty dates were not recorded. When a technician logs a repair, Carl checks the warranty field first. If it is still active, the vendor pays.
Review MTBF vs Expected Monthly
If actual MTBF is consistently lower than expected, something is wrong — wrong coolant, environmental factors, operator error, or simply an aging machine. Carl reviews these numbers on the first Monday of every month and flags any machine where actual MTBF is more than 20% below expected.
Link Equipment to Work Centers
This connection is what makes capacity planning work. When you assign a work order to CNC Bay A, Odoo knows exactly which machines are there, what their status is, and whether maintenance is scheduled. Without this link, scheduling is guesswork.
Summary
Key Takeaways: Odoo 18's Maintenance module provides a complete system for managing physical assets. Start by creating maintenance teams grouped by expertise, then configure work centers with costing, capacity, and OEE targets. Define equipment categories to organize machines by type, and register each piece of equipment with full details including vendor, serial number, cost, warranty, and assigned technician. The Maintenance tab tracks reliability metrics (MTBF, MTTR, estimated next failure) that enable predictive maintenance. Linking equipment to work centers connects asset management to production scheduling for accurate capacity planning.