In step S14, operation controlling section 25 determines whether the sum of total consumption current Itot and operating consumption current Im(k) is smaller than output current capacity Icap. The first time step S14 is performed, the sum is smaller than output current capacity Icap, so processing proceeds to S15. In step S15, operation controlling section 25 issues an instruction to the kth tape feeder 10 to start unloading operation. The first time step S15 is performed, operation controlling section 25 issues an instruction to the 1st tape feeder 10 to start unloading operation. In step S16, total consumption current calculating section 22 adds operation consumption current Im(k) to total consumption current Itot and updates total consumption current Itot. In step S17, determination order control section 25 increments determination order k by one and proceeds to the determination of the next tape feeder 10.

In step S18, operation controlling section 25 determines whether there are tape feeders 10 for which the unloading operation instruction is complete. The first time step S18 is performed, there are no such feeders, so processing returns to step S12. Accordingly, by repeating steps 12 to S18, operation controlling section 25 issues an instruction to tape feeders 10 to start unloading operation for a quantity of feeders equal to the number of times the steps are repeated. Here, the total consumption current Itot gradually increases, and in step S14, the total consumption current Itot is no longer sufficiently smaller than the output current capacity Icap. When this occurs, steps S15 to S17 are no longer performed.