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glossary/reel

Reel (paper reel)

Also: reel, paper reel, jumbo reel

A large cylinder of paper wound onto a core at the end of the paper machine. The base unit of production and bulk shipment for most grades.

Paper comes off the paper machine wound onto a reel, typically 2 to 4 metres in diameter and the full machine width (up to 11 metres). The reel is the unit of production accounting: a mill might run 50 reels in a shift, each weighing 15 to 35 tonnes.

Reels are then slit and rewound into smaller reels (customer reels) for shipping. The slitter-winder is the last machine in a paper mill's production chain.