In 1825, the enterprise became known as John Cockerill & Cie.[2] The company produced the primary industrial machinery of the day – steam engines, blast furnace blowers, etc.

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.

In 1982, Cockerill-Mechanique (with a capital of ~2 billion Belgian francs "2 068 376 776,0 euro") became a 100% owned subsidiary of that group as Cockerill Mechanical Industries.

[4] The company remained a division of Cockerill-Sambre (and its successor Usinor) until 2002, when it was sold to private investors.

[12][13][14] NGOs raised concerns about the validity of the licenses authorising the company to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, given the involvement of this country in a conflict with Yemen.