A piece of equipment is an individual object that is to be maintained independently. Each piece of equipment is managed independently in the system, so that you can:

• Manage individual data from a maintenance perspective for the object

• Perform individual maintenance tasks for the object

• Keep a record of the maintenance tasks performed for the object

• Collect and evaluate data over a long period of time for the object

Pieces of equipment can be installed and dismantled at functional locations. The usage times for a piece of equipment at a functional location are documented over the course of time.

You should always create an equipment master record for a technical object if:

• Individual data is to be managed for the object (for example, year of construction, warranty period, usage sites)

• Maintenance tasks are to be performed for the object, either regular, planned or resulting from damage

• A record of the maintenance tasks performed for the object must be kept (for example, for insurance or compulsory annual inspection purposes)

• Technical data on the object is to be collected and evaluated over a long period of time

• The costs of maintenance tasks are to be monitored for the object

• Records of usage times at functional locations are required for the object

You can use pieces of equipment by themselves (pure object-related structuring), or in combination with the component Functional locations (function and object-related structuring).

You can create warranties in the system using the Customer Service (CS) application component.

You can also use pieces of equipment in the following application areas:

• Production Planning and Control (PP): Production resources/tools

• Quality Management (QM): Test equipment

• Materials Management (MM): Serialized material

• Sales and Distribution (SD): Customer devices