Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A method for supporting maintenance for a molding system in which apparatuses perform operational steps during operation cycles of the molding systems and for determining or anticipating which of the apparatuses must be maintained before operation of the molding system is caused to be interrupted by an apparatus malfunction, including the steps of measuring, at short intervals, cycle times that correspond to a time for completion of each operation cycle of the molding system, and operation times of the operational steps performed by the apparatuses, wherein the operation times measured are those affecting each cycle time, and storing data on the measured cycle times and the measured operation times in a database,  retrieving from the database data on the measured cycle times and specifying any measured cycle time that is longer than a normal cycle time, and  determining which operational step, among the operational steps performed by the apparatuses that affect the specified measured cycle time, may cause an interruption of the operation of the molding system, based on a sum of ones of the measured operation times for each operational step that exceed a predetermined time, or a sum of the number of measured operation times for each operational step that exceed the predetermined time. 2. A method for supporting maintenance for a molding system in which apparatuses perform operational steps during operation cycles of the molding system and for determining which of the apparatuses must be maintained before operation of the molding system is caused to be interrupted by an apparatus malfunction, including the steps of measuring, at short intervals, cycle times that each correspond to a time for completion of each operation cycle of the molding system, and operation times of the steps performed by the apparatuses, wherein the operation times measured are those affecting the cycle times, and storing data on the measured cycle times and the measured operation times in a database,  retrieving data on the measured cycle times from the database and specifying any measured cycle time that is longer than a normal cycle time,  determining which operational step, among the operational steps performed by the apparatuses that affect cycle times, may cause an interruption of the operation of the molding system, based on a sum of ones of the measured operation times for each operational step that exceed a predetermined time, or a sum of the number of measured operation times for each operational step that exceed the predetermined time, and  monitoring changes between subsequently measured operation times of the determined operational step. 3. A method for supporting maintenance for a molding system in which apparatuses perform operational steps during operation cycles of the molding system and for anticipating which of the apparatuses must be maintained before operation of the molding system is caused to be interrupted by an apparatus malfunction, including the steps of measuring, at short intervals, data on cycle times each corresponding to a time for completion of each operation cycle of the molding system, and operation times of operational steps performed by the apparatuses, wherein the operation times measured are those affecting the cycle times, and storing data on the measured cycle times and the measured operation times in a database,  retrieving measured cycle times from the database and specifying any measured cycle time that is longer than a normal cycle time,  determining which operational step, among the operational steps of the apparatuses that affect cycle times, may cause an interruption of the molding system, based on a sum of ones of the measured operation times for each operational step that exceed a predetermined time, or a sum of the number of measured operation times for each operational step that exceed the predetermined time, and  monitoring transitions of subsequently measured operation times of the determined operational step. 4. A method for supporting maintenance of a molding system of the type in which a plurality of apparatuses are operative during operation cycles of the molding system, and wherein the plurality of apparatuses perform operational steps during the operation cycles, the method including the steps of determining or anticipating which of the plurality of apparatuses must be maintained before operation of the apparatuses degrade to a condition where operation of the molding system is interrupted, comprising the steps of:  measuring, at short intervals, cycle times of the operation cycles of the molding system and operation times of the apparatuses, wherein each measured cycle time corresponds to a time for completion of one of the operation cycles of the molding system, and each measured operation time corresponds to a time for completion of one of the operation steps performed by the apparatuses and which operational step is capable of affecting the measured cycle times;  storing the measured cycle times and the measured operation times so that a plurality of measured cycle times are stored, and so that for each of the operational steps a plurality of measured operation times are stored;  identifying any measured cycle time that is longer than a normal cycle time for the corresponding operation cycle; and  evaluation for each optional step performed during and capable of affecting the operation cycle corresponding to the identified measured cycle time, a sum of corresponding measured operation times that exceed a predetermined time, or a sum of the number of the corresponding operation times that exceed the predetermined time, to identify which operational step and associated apparatuses may cause an interruption of the molding system, wherein the corresponding measured operation times are obtained during a plurality of repetitions of the operation cycles. 5. The method of  claim 4 , further including the step of: claim 4 monitoring changes in the operation times of the identified operational step for changes which exceed predetermined criteria to identify apparatuses which should be repaired. 6. The method of  claim 4 , further including the step of: claim 4 monitoring transitions between the operation times of the identified operational step, for changes which exceed predetermined criteria, to identify apparatuses which should be repaired.