About Us

Welcome to Southdowne Solutions Ltd

John Pethullis has over 40 years’ experience in Bulk Materials Handling‚ working for Portasilo Ltd‚ Shepherd Group and Clyde Bergemann Ltd in various technical leadership roles. In 2016 he established materials handling consultancy‚ Southdowne Solutions Ltd to provide engineering support for Bulk Material Handling projects‚ from concept to commissioning.

John is a Chartered Engineer and former chairman of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers bulk materials handling committee (IMechE BMHC) and is still an active committee member. In 2015 he was awarded SHAPA’s Individual award “Chiefly for his management of the extensive contract to install biomass handling facilities at Drax Power Stationfor Shepherd Group”

SSL has recently completed a product development project for a major materials handling specialist to develop a new high–pressure fuel injection system. Product development is often the first casualty when things get busy. Let us help you progress your development plans‚ either using our engineers working to your brief or by working with your team to provide technical leadership and drive.

SSL has also recently completed several Explosion Hazard Reviews (EHR) and hazard zone assessments for a number of clients in the food and power sectors. More details are on the DSEAR page. We are happy to call in to discuss how we can help you mitigate your fire and explosion risks.

Several recent contracts have also related to LEV upgrades resulting from the recent re–classification of softwood dust as an asthmagen as described on the COSHH page. WEL’s now need to be “As Low As reasonably possible and many LEV systems will need uprating.”

Developing the design concept and exploring options and alternatives before tendering a project can pay dividends with any large–scale bulk material handling project. Extensive FEED studies have recently been completed for different clients‚ including two large paint plants in India. Each plant has seventy–five storage silos and hundreds of recipe combinations. Developing a scheme to handle this many ingredient at high rates can be a challenge. The fact that this is the fourth and fifth major facility engineered for this client speaks volumes about how SSL work. Let us help develop your next business case.

Establishing the plant layout and developing key plans is often an essential first step for any bulk handling project. SSL can use photogrammetric aerial surveys to deliver 3D point–cloud models of large and complex survey areas and have recently completed three extensive survey and modelling projects.

Effective risk management is essential if profits are to be made in a highly competitive market place. ‘Right first time’ should be the project mantra and this is a realistic target if risks are recognised and properly addressed. SSL is currently working with a global supplier of materials handling equipment to help manage the risks on a large Power Station project in Vietnam.

Please contact Southdowne Solutions Ltd to discuss your engineering requirements – from concept to commissioning.