A genetic algorithm was applied to an arc welding process to determine near optimal settings of welding process parameters which produce good weld quality. This method searches for optimal settings of welding parameters through systematic experiments without a model between input and output variables. It has an advantage of being able to find optimal conditions with a fewer number of experiments than conventional full factorial design. A genetic algorithm was applied to optimization of weld bead geometry. In the optimization problem, the input variables were wire feed rate, welding voltage, and welding speed, root opening and the output variables were bead height, bead width, penetration and back bead width. The number of level for each input variable is 8, 16, 8 and 3, respectively. Therefore, according to the conventional full factorial design, in order to find the optimal welding conditions, 3,072 experiments must be performed. The genetic algorithm, however, found the near optimal welding conditions from less than 48 experiments.