The typical hydraulic system of hoist is composed of a hydraulic supply unit, a directional control valve, two pilot operated check valves, two flow control valves. The capacity coefficients of flow control valves should be adjusted for the hoist to operate at moderate speed and minimize the hydraulic energy loss. However, it is difficult to adjust the four capacity coefficients of flow control valves by trial and error for optimal operation. The steady state model of the hoist hydraulic system is derived and the optimal capacity coefficients of flow control valves are obtained using the complex method that is one kind of constrained direct search method.