A fleet of three forked automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) transport, load and unload rolls of stripped and pasted newsprint from a semi automatic roll preparation station to six printing press reel stands. This unique vehicle will automatically remove spent cores and load new rolls in the same cycle. Cores are automatically dropped into a bin prior to the beginning of a new order. The AGVs will also remove, store and retrieve partial and butt rolls in vertical racks adjacent to the press. Automatic loading of the reel arms is highly accurate and repeatable by means of a sensor array and an electrical interface with the press.

Computer controls manage and report on all vehicle movements with an interface to the press control system to help ensure that the right roll is delivered to the right reel stand at the right time. The computer controls also manage and report on roll inventory from receipt to core removal and all movements in between.