Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) or the conventional arc welding process is particularly dominant in structural joints, pressure vessels and in maintenance and repair work. This process is widely used in many industrial applications due to its versatility, simplicity and indoor and outdoor applicability. A certain level of operational skills is needed in performing the SMAW process in order to obtain a quality weldment. Further, input process parameters such as current, voltage, arc gap, welding speed, electrode orientation, etc. play a vital role in the quality of the weldment. This research especially addresses and simulates mild steel in arc welding, covering industrial applications including small scale industries. The study investigates the influence of different input process parameters on weld quality through mechanical tests and verified through microstructural examinations. Further, authors wish to identify the optimized process variables in obtaining quality weldment at minimum cost for real industrial applications. For the study, thirty-six number of welded samples of mild steel were selected based on a full factorial array, Taguchi’s orthogonal array, welding standards, power source specifications and deviations based on a trial experiment. According to the planned experimental procedure, three types of mechanical tests (hardness, toughness and tensile) followed by the microstructural tests were carried out. Results of the investigation revealed that the 12th, 9th and 11th sample sets with corresponding input parameters had produced the best quality weldments. As their joint characteristics, tensile properties are better with poor impact toughness compared to the base metal