| Industry | Engineering |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Seraing, Belgium |
| Website | www.cmigroupe.com |
Cockerill Maintenance & Ingénierie (CMI) is a mechanical engineering group headquartered in Seraing, Belgium, producing machinery for steel plants, industrial heat recovery equipment and boiler, and shunting locomotives and military equipment (artillery guns).
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In 1817 the John Cockerill company was founded in Seraing nr. Liege, Belgium by John Cockerill. As well as creating an iron works John Cockerill also instigated machine building activities, following in the footsteps of his father William Cockerill's who had made his fortune constructing machines for the textile industry in Belgium.
The company produced the primary industrial machinery of the day; steam engines, blast furnace blowers etc. . In 1835 the company produced the first Belgian steam locomotive La Belge, beginning a tradition of building locomotives for the railways of Belgium.
An association with military equipment also began early in the 19th century; building a battleship for the United Kingdom of the Netherlands navy in 1825.[1]
By 1981 the division had become part of the financially troubled Cockerill-Sambre, in 1982 Cockerill-Mechanique (with a capital of ~2billion Belgian francs) became a 100% owned subsidiary of that company as Cockerill Mechanical Industries as part of restructuring of the company that would allow the profitable parts (including CMI) to be separated off.[2] However the association of the division with the successors of Cockerill-Sambre and its successor Usinor continued until 2002 when it was sold to private investors.[3]
In 2004 the company was renamed Cockerill Maintenance & Ingénierie.[3]
The company's primary business is in metal mechanical engineering with emphasis on machinery related to or using in steelworks; maintenance, refurbishment and repair of equipment is also part of the companies business.
The industry sub-division manufactures equipment for steel coil treatment including pickling, annealing, hot dip and electro galvanising lines, rolling mills and reheating furnaces for the steel industry.[4], as well as shunting locomotives.[5]
The energy sub-division products include heat recovery steam generator and boilers.[6]
The defence sub-division's primary products are 90mm guns and turrets for light armourmed vehicles.[7]