Abstract: Genetic algorithm was applied to optimize cutting path. Aimed at the optimization objective,i. e., a processing path should include every outline in each part and has the shortest distance, a nondeterministic polynomial cost function was designed and simplified to the optimization among points. In addition, a genetic encodingwas given, and nesting parts including 75 partswere simulated numerically. The simulation results show thatthe optimal length 37 129mm ofcutting path is 85% of the original length 43 622 mm so as to prove the validity of the proposed algorithm.