diff --git a/navalplanner-business/src/main/java/org/navalplanner/business/materials/entities/UnitType.java b/navalplanner-business/src/main/java/org/navalplanner/business/materials/entities/UnitType.java
index 04e90d096..908ee7619 100644
--- a/navalplanner-business/src/main/java/org/navalplanner/business/materials/entities/UnitType.java
+++ b/navalplanner-business/src/main/java/org/navalplanner/business/materials/entities/UnitType.java
@@ -62,6 +62,8 @@ public class UnitType extends IntegrationEntity{
 
     private String measure;
 
+    private Boolean generateCode = false;
+
     // Default constructor, needed by Hibernate
     protected UnitType() {
 
@@ -80,6 +82,14 @@ public class UnitType extends IntegrationEntity{
         this.measure = measure;
     }
 
+    public Boolean getGenerateCode() {
+        return generateCode;
+    }
+
+    public void setGenerateCode(Boolean generateCode) {
+        this.generateCode = generateCode;
+    }
+
     @AssertTrue(message = "the measure unit type has to be unique. It is already used")
     public boolean checkConstraintUniqueName() {
         boolean result;
diff --git a/navalplanner-business/src/main/resources/org/navalplanner/business/materials/entities/Materials.hbm.xml b/navalplanner-business/src/main/resources/org/navalplanner/business/materials/entities/Materials.hbm.xml
index 80c23422f..485e49492 100644
--- a/navalplanner-business/src/main/resources/org/navalplanner/business/materials/entities/Materials.hbm.xml
+++ b/navalplanner-business/src/main/resources/org/navalplanner/business/materials/entities/Materials.hbm.xml
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 
     <property name="code" access="property" not-null="true" unique="true"/>
     <property name="measure" access="field"/>
+    <property name="generateCode" not-null="true" />
 
 </class>
 
diff --git a/navalplanner-webapp/src/main/java/org/navalplanner/web/materials/UnitTypeController.java b/navalplanner-webapp/src/main/java/org/navalplanner/web/materials/UnitTypeController.java
index 8849a6b8b..91adc8e69 100644
--- a/navalplanner-webapp/src/main/java/org/navalplanner/web/materials/UnitTypeController.java
+++ b/navalplanner-webapp/src/main/java/org/navalplanner/web/materials/UnitTypeController.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import org.navalplanner.web.common.Util;
 import org.zkoss.util.logging.Log;
 import org.zkoss.zk.ui.Component;
 import org.zkoss.zk.ui.WrongValueException;
+import org.zkoss.zk.ui.event.CheckEvent;
 import org.zkoss.zk.ui.event.Event;
 import org.zkoss.zk.ui.event.EventListener;
 import org.zkoss.zk.ui.util.GenericForwardComposer;
@@ -246,4 +247,14 @@ public class UnitTypeController extends GenericForwardComposer {
         Util.reloadBindings(listWindow);
         getVisibility().showOnly(listWindow);
     }
+
+    public void onCheckGenerateCode(Event e) {
+        CheckEvent ce = (CheckEvent) e;
+        if(ce.isChecked()) {
+            //we have to auto-generate the code for new objects
+            if(getUnitType().isNewObject()) {
+                getUnitType().setCodeAutogenerated();
+            }
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/navalplanner-webapp/src/main/java/org/navalplanner/web/materials/UnitTypeModel.java b/navalplanner-webapp/src/main/java/org/navalplanner/web/materials/UnitTypeModel.java
index 8cb834cd6..dabcee955 100644
--- a/navalplanner-webapp/src/main/java/org/navalplanner/web/materials/UnitTypeModel.java
+++ b/navalplanner-webapp/src/main/java/org/navalplanner/web/materials/UnitTypeModel.java
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import java.util.List;
 
 import org.apache.commons.lang.Validate;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+import org.navalplanner.business.common.daos.IConfigurationDAO;
 import org.navalplanner.business.common.exceptions.InstanceNotFoundException;
 import org.navalplanner.business.common.exceptions.ValidationException;
 import org.navalplanner.business.materials.daos.IUnitTypeDAO;
@@ -38,6 +39,9 @@ public class UnitTypeModel implements IUnitTypeModel {
     @Autowired
     private IUnitTypeDAO unitTypeDAO;
 
+    @Autowired
+    private IConfigurationDAO configurationDAO;
+
     @Override
     @Transactional(readOnly=true)
     public List<UnitType> getUnitTypes() {
@@ -45,8 +49,17 @@ public class UnitTypeModel implements IUnitTypeModel {
     }
 
     @Override
+    @Transactional(readOnly=true)
     public void initCreate() {
-        this.unitTypeState = UnitType.create();
+        Boolean generateCode = configurationDAO.getConfiguration().
+            getGenerateCodeForUnitTypes();
+        if(generateCode) {
+            this.unitTypeState = UnitType.create();
+        }
+        else {
+            this.unitTypeState = UnitType.create("", "");
+        }
+        this.unitTypeState.setGenerateCode(generateCode);
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/navalplanner-webapp/src/main/webapp/materials/_editUnitType.zul b/navalplanner-webapp/src/main/webapp/materials/_editUnitType.zul
index 08b1888c6..6db13e0b5 100644
--- a/navalplanner-webapp/src/main/webapp/materials/_editUnitType.zul
+++ b/navalplanner-webapp/src/main/webapp/materials/_editUnitType.zul
@@ -33,11 +33,17 @@
                     <rows>
                         <row>
                             <label value="${i18n:_('Code')}"/>
-                            <textbox
-                                id="codeTextBox"
-                                value="@{controller.unitType.code}"
-                                constraint="@{controller.uniqueCode}"
-                                width="300px"/>
+                            <hbox>
+                                <textbox
+                                    id="codeTextBox" width="300px"
+                                    value="@{controller.unitType.code}"
+                                    constraint="@{controller.uniqueCode}"
+                                    disabled="@{controller.unitType.generateCode}" />
+                                <checkbox
+                                    id="generateCode" label="${i18n:_('Generate code')}"
+                                    onCheck="controller.onCheckGenerateCode(event)"
+                                    checked="@{controller.unitType.generateCode}" />
+                            </hbox>
                         </row>
                         <row>
                             <label value="${i18n:_('Unit measure name')}" />