Equipment and Categories in Odoo 18

Manufacturing facility managing 150 machines creates asset tracking disaster: CNC machine breaks down requiring 3 hours investigating which technician responsible discovering equipment assigned to departed employee 6 months ago, no equipment categorization making spare parts ordering guesswork where purchasing orders monitor stands instead of CNC bearings, warranty expiration unknown causing preventable 5K repair covered under warranty that expired unnoticed 2 weeks prior, no MTBF tracking preventing predictive maintenance where critical packaging machine fails unexpectedly halting production 8 hours costing 40K lost output, equipment cost basis missing for depreciation creating accounting chaos during audit, and no work center assignment causing production scheduling conflicts where 3 orders assigned to same machine simultaneously—generating equipment downtime maintenance confusion warranty losses preventable failures and production chaos from unorganized asset management without centralized equipment registry categorization and maintenance tracking.

Odoo 18 Equipment Management enables systematic asset tracking through equipment categories organizing machines by type function or department, comprehensive equipment records storing specifications warranty vendor maintenance history, work center integration linking equipment to production locations, maintenance team assignment designating responsible technicians per equipment, MTBF and MTTR tracking measuring reliability and repair efficiency, ownership tracking assigning to employees departments or work centers, product information recording vendor model serial number costs, warranty management alerting before expiration, and lifecycle monitoring predicting next failures based on historical data—reducing equipment downtime 35 percent through predictive maintenance eliminating warranty losses through expiration alerts improving spare parts inventory accuracy 70 percent via equipment categorization and achieving complete asset lifecycle visibility enabling data-driven replacement decisions through systematic centralized equipment management.

Equipment Categories

Organize equipment by logical groupings:

Creating Equipment Category:

1. Go to Maintenance → Configuration → Equipment Categories
2. Click New
3. Enter Category Name: (e.g., CNC Machines, Monitors, Forklifts)
4. Select Company (if multi-company)
5. Assign Responsible Person: Manager overseeing this category
6. Click Save

Category Examples:

Maintenance Teams

Assign specialized technicians to equipment groups:

Creating Maintenance Team:

1. Go to Maintenance → Configuration → Maintenance Teams
2. Click New
3. Enter Team Name: (e.g., CNC Specialists, Electrical Team)
4. Select Company
5. Add Team Members:
   • Select technicians from employee list
   • Add multiple members
6. Click Save

Team Specialization Example:

Work Centers

Define production locations and capacity:

Creating Work Center:

1. Go to Maintenance → Equipment → Work Centers
2. Click New
3. Configure work center:
   • Name: Assembly Line 1
   • Tag: Production, Critical
   • Alternative Work Centers: Backup locations
   • Working Hours: Standard 40h week or shift schedule
   • Hourly Cost: 50 dollars operational cost
   • OEE Target: 85 percent efficiency goal
   • Capacity: Units per hour
4. Click Save

Work Center Equipment Tab:

Creating Equipment

Equipment Creation Steps:

1. Go to Maintenance → Equipment → Machines and Tools
2. Click New
3. Fill basic information

General Tab Fields:

Product Information Tab

Vendor and financial details:

Example Configuration:

Maintenance Tab Metrics

Reliability and performance tracking:

Metrics Example:

Equipment Lifecycle Management

Complete Workflow:

Best Practices

Create Granular Categories Aligned with Spare Parts Inventory: Broad category Machines equals spare parts confusion. CNC ordering 50 bearings discovering half wrong size for specific machine models. Create specific categories: CNC Haas, CNC Mazak, CNC DMG enabling parts categorization matching equipment. Spare parts accuracy increases 70 percent through equipment-parts alignment.

Set Warranty Expiration Alerts 30 Days Before: Discovering expired warranty day after 5K repair equals preventable loss. Configure automated reminders 30 days before expiration reviewing equipment for potential warranty claims. Catch issues before coverage ends saving thousands annually through proactive warranty utilization.

Use MTBF Trends to Justify Capital Equipment Replacement: Equipment with declining MTBF 5000 hours dropping to 1500 hours equals increasing downtime and repair costs. Present MTBF trend data to management showing total cost of ownership exceeds replacement. Data-driven decisions prevent emotional attachments to failing equipment achieving optimal replacement timing.

Conclusion

Odoo 18 Equipment Management enables systematic asset tracking through equipment categories maintenance team assignment work center integration MTBF MTTR tracking warranty management ownership tracking vendor information and lifecycle monitoring. Reduce equipment downtime 35 percent through predictive maintenance eliminating warranty losses through expiration alerts improving spare parts accuracy 70 percent via categorization achieving complete asset visibility enabling data-driven replacement decisions through centralized systematic equipment management supporting preventive maintenance reducing unplanned failures and optimizing total cost of ownership.