Patent ID: 7519450

Claim:
A drive method for a production machine adapted to drive an actuator of the production machine by use of a power drive source, the method comprising the steps of: driving the actuator by use of the power drive source, while switching drive output of the power drive source among a plurality of different drive outputs; detecting values of at least a physical quantity regarding an operation state of the actuator and a physical quantity regarding energy consumption corresponding to the operation state; selecting one of the drive outputs on the basis of the detected values and in accordance with a predetermined selection method; and driving the actuator with the selected drive output; and wherein the power drive source is a hydraulic drive source, and the actuator is a hydraulic actuator driven by the hydraulic drive source, wherein the step of detecting values of the physical quantities includes performing detection processing in response to selection of a detection mode, wherein the detection mode is selected by use of an output selection screen displayed on a display, and wherein at least an electricity saving ratio with respect to electricity consumption at the time of the maximum drive output is displayed on the output selection screen.