In order to present a system for generating a plan, that allows evaluation of a bending operation more effectively, a system for generating a plan is disclosed, which comprises a system for generating a plan which comprises a sequence of operations to be performed by a bending apparatus for bending workpieces comprising sheets of malleable material, the bending apparatus having a gripper for gripping a workpiece while performing a bend, said sequence of operations comprising a set of N bends for forming a finished workpiece from a stock sheet of malleable material, said system comprising: proposing means for proposing, for an mth operation within the sequence of operations, a plurality of proposed operations including a plurality of proposed bends to be performed by said apparatus; subplan means for providing a proposed subplan that accompanies each proposed bend; and generating means for generating a plan including a sequence of bends from a first bend through an Nth bend, by choosing each bend in the sequence of operations based upon the proposed bends and the proposed subplan that accompanies each proposed bend, wherein the system further comprises estimating means for estimating a cost to be associated with each proposed bend.