A planning system includes an input device which accepts at least a given
planning problem and values of variables required to solve the given
planning problem; a display device which provides a visual display of an
optimum plan obtained for the given planning problem; and a planner device
which prepares an objective function representing items to be averaged and
designs a plan to minimize a value of the objective function. The planner
device includes an initial plan reader which reads an initial plan; an
objective function value operation unit which calculates an objective
function value of the initial plan; a reproduction unit which generates
random numbers to a set composed by elements contacting to boundary planes
of divided subsets, wherein the random numbers include a range of number
of contacting elements and an equally-opportunity-selectable distribution,
select at least one element based on the random numbers,
equal-opportunity-selecting one of the subsets to which element contacts,
and schedule the plan such that the selected element is rendered to belong
to the selected subset; a plan renewal unit which compares the objective
function value of the current plan with the objective function value of
the previous plan to determine the plan having a smaller objective
function value as an optimum plan; and a control unit which provides a
visual display of an optimum plan on the display device.