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Overview

The Equipment module lets you keep a full register of every piece of machinery in your shop — curing ovens, sandblasters, coating booths, compressors, conveyors, and anything else you rely on to do the work. Each equipment record includes its current operating status and a complete maintenance log.

Keeping this information up to date pays off in two ways. First, your team always knows which machines are available and which are down for service — preventing jobs from being scheduled on equipment that is not ready. Second, the maintenance history gives you a paper trail for warranty claims, insurance, and resale.

Find Equipment under Equipment in the left sidebar.

Adding Equipment

To add a piece of equipment to the system:

  1. Go to Equipment and click New Equipment.
  2. Fill in the equipment details:
    • Name — a short, descriptive name (e.g., "Main Curing Oven" or "Blast Cabinet #2").
    • Model / Serial Number — from the manufacturer's plate on the machine. Useful for warranty and service calls.
    • Manufacturer — who made the equipment.
    • Purchase Date — when your shop acquired it.
    • Last Service Date — the date it was last professionally serviced or inspected.
    • Next Service Due — when the next scheduled service is due. This triggers alerts on the Dashboard.
    • Location — where in the shop the equipment is located (e.g., "Bay 1", "Back Room").
    • Notes — any important operational notes, quirks, or warnings for the team.
  3. Set the initial Status (see below).
  4. Click Save Equipment.

Equipment Status

Every piece of equipment has a status that reflects its current condition. Update the status whenever the equipment's situation changes — this keeps the Dashboard accurate and lets supervisors quickly see what is available.

Status What it means
Operational The equipment is fully functional and available for use. This is the normal day-to-day status for working machines.
Needs Maintenance The equipment is still operational but a maintenance task is overdue or a minor issue has been flagged. The machine can still be used with caution, but maintenance should be scheduled promptly to avoid a breakdown.
Under Maintenance The equipment is currently being serviced or repaired and is not available for production. Do not schedule jobs that require this equipment until its status returns to Operational.
Out of Service The equipment has broken down or failed and cannot be used. A maintenance record should be created immediately with a priority of High or Critical.
Retired The equipment has been decommissioned and is no longer in service. It remains in the system for historical records but is excluded from active listings and the Dashboard.

To update an equipment's status, open its Details page and click Edit, then change the Status field. You can also log a maintenance record (see below), which can update the status as part of the workflow.

Maintenance Records

Every service, repair, inspection, or maintenance task performed on a piece of equipment should be logged as a maintenance record. Over time this builds a complete service history that is invaluable for troubleshooting recurring problems, planning replacements, and demonstrating due diligence.

To log a maintenance record:

  1. Open the equipment's Details page.
  2. Click Add Maintenance Record.
  3. Fill in the details:
    • Task Description — what was done or needs to be done (e.g., "Replace heating element", "Annual burner service", "Belt tension check").
    • Type — choose Scheduled for planned preventive maintenance, or Corrective for repairs to fix a problem.
    • Scheduled Date — when the task is planned for (or when it was done).
    • Completion Date — leave blank if the task has not been done yet.
    • Cost — what the service cost (parts, labor, contractor fees).
    • Priority — how urgent this task is (see below).
    • Assigned To — the shop worker responsible for this task.
    • Notes — parts used, observations, instructions for next time.
  4. Click Save.

Open maintenance records (those without a completion date) appear on the Dashboard as upcoming tasks. When the work is done, open the record and fill in the Completion Date and any final notes to mark it as done.

Recurring Maintenance

For maintenance that happens on a regular schedule (e.g., monthly filter cleaning, quarterly burner service), set the Recurrence field when creating the record — choose from Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, or Annually. When you complete the record, the system automatically creates the next maintenance record at the appropriate interval. This ensures preventive maintenance tasks never fall through the cracks.

Maintenance Priority

When creating a maintenance record, set the priority to reflect how urgently the task needs to be completed. Priority affects how records are sorted on the Dashboard and in the maintenance list.

Low

Routine preventive tasks that can be scheduled at the next convenient opportunity. Example: lubricate conveyor chain, clean filters.

Normal

Standard scheduled maintenance that should be completed within the planned service window. Example: annual burner inspection, thermocouple calibration.

High

A developing problem that will cause a breakdown if not addressed soon. Production should be monitored. Example: unusual vibration in the blaster motor, oven not reaching set temperature.

Critical

Equipment is down or unsafe to operate. All work on this machine must stop immediately. Example: oven element failure, electrical fault, safety switch bypassed.

Oven Scheduler

The Oven Scheduler (/OvenScheduler) lets you group jobs into oven batches to maximize curing oven utilization. It uses your configured Named Ovens (set up in Settings › Company Settings › Named Ovens) to show available capacity in square feet as you add jobs to a batch.

To use the Oven Scheduler:

  1. Go to the Oven Scheduler from the sidebar.
  2. Select the oven you are loading.
  3. Add jobs to the batch — the remaining capacity updates as you add items.
  4. Progress batches through Loading → In Progress → Completed as work is done.

To configure your ovens for the scheduler, see Settings › Named Ovens.

Assigning Maintenance Tasks

Each maintenance record can be assigned to one shop worker — typically someone in the Maintenance role, or a Supervisor who will coordinate with an outside service technician.

To assign a task, select the worker from the Assigned To dropdown when creating or editing the maintenance record. Only active workers are listed.

Assigned tasks appear on the Dashboard grouped by worker, so supervisors can see their team's maintenance workload at a glance. When a task is completed, the assigned worker (or a manager) should update the completion date and any notes so the record reflects exactly what was done and when.

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