This paper investigates the influence of cutting parameters on machinability of a Ni-Cr alloy, Inconel 625, with coated carbide inserts (PVD AlTiN). In this work, a bar type Inconel 625 sample was chosen and based on Taguchi's L9 orthogonal array, turning experiments were conducted at different levels of cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut. The performance measures, cutting force and surface roughness, were measured to analyze the machining effectiveness. The signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, the analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression analysis were employed to find the optimal levels and to analyze the effect of the cutting parameters for the objective of lower cutting force and better surface finish under dry cutting conditions. The obtained results indicated that PVD coated inserts performed better in terms of cutting force and surface roughness with designed cutting parameters. The relationship between the independent variables and dependent variables is determined through a quadratic multiple regression model. From the statistical analysis, the results show that surface roughness is greatly influenced by feed rate and followed by cutting speed. The feed rate exhibits the maximum influence on cutting force components as compared to the depth of cut and cutting speed. © 2006-2014 Asian Research Publishing Network.