Pulp, Paper & Converting Roll Handling

Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal carry a large share of Southern Africa’s pulp, paper and timber processing, and roll handling is the single biggest attachment conversation that comes out of it. A roll clamp grips the reel around its circumference and carries it with no pallet at all, which is what allows rolls to be stored on end, on their side, and stacked without cradles.

Specification comes down to three numbers — smallest diameter, largest diameter and roll mass — and one decision: whether rolls have to be rotated. A non-rotating clamp handles rolls standing on end. A 180° or 360° rotating clamp picks a roll off the floor lying down and stands it up, or lays it over to feed a press. Getting that wrong means either a clamp that cannot do the job or one that was paid for twice.

Around the clamp sits the rest of a mill’s requirement: carton clamps and pushers on the converting and despatch side, bale clamps for recovered paper, and the consumables and PPE the maintenance workshop runs on.