Europe's largest producer of fine paper, M-real, have recently purchased two Nu-Star Reel Pushers at their Sittingbourne Paper Mill in Kent, England. M-real is Europe's third largest paper merchant and their Sittingbourne paper mill produces in excess of 200,000 tonnes of coated and uncoated paper annually from PM15 and PM16.

The Nu-Star Reel Pushers are used to push the 1.3m diameter paper reels (weighing up to 3 tonnes) from the paper winder into an automated floor track or a temporary holding area. M-real trialled a demonstration unit earlier in the year after staff had commented about the effort required to push the reels by hand, especially when the reels come off the winder and get locked next to one another. This had sometimes required the use of a long lever to help get the reels moving

Darryl Hardy (M-real's Finishing Process Support Manager) commented; "We decided to purchase the Nu-Star Reel Pushers in order to speed up the production process and remove any risks of back injuries to the staff that have previously had to push the reels by hand. All the staff were positive about the benefits after we trialled a unit in May this year and our other UK site, New Thames Mill, have had a Nu-Star Power Pusher in daily use since July 2002, so we knew it was a reliable product."

The Reel Pusher is pedestrian operated and completely self contained with no trailing air/power lines. Power is provided by sealed maintenance-free traction batteries and the matching on-board charger means the unit may be opportunity charged from any suitable 110V or 220V power source. There are no complicated licensing requirements (unlike ride-on equipment such as clamp-trucks) and any operator over 18 years old may use it after the necessary training. Nu-Star manufacture the Reel Pushers in Derbyshire, England and in addition to the EU market, have exported them to paper mills in Saudi Arabia & South Korea.