Face milling is required to study cutting process with a view of multipoint cutter. This experimental study mainly deals with the single and multi-insert cutting characteristics using coated tool. Because metal cutting of the single and multi-insert has a large relation to the improvement of productivity, the economic cutting process can be achieved by the analysis of proper metal cutting mechanism. Therefore, machining characteristics of face molling in this paper has been studied by investigating the role of different insert number which is concerned with mean cutting force, the RMS values of AE(acoustic emission) signal, tool life and surface roughness in milling SS 41 and SUS 304. The cutting force and AE signal are monitored to make an analysis of cutting process. The surface roughness of the specimens machined by inserts of different numbers is measured at different speeds, feeds and depth of cut. The width of flank wear is also observed.