Abstract: A roll stand is designed to unwind a material web (60) to a printing machine (2) or other production machine from an unwinding roll (13) in the roll stand and for a stoppage-free automatic shifting to a new roll (5), when the unwinding roll has been emptied to the desired degree. In accordance with the invention, tension is detected in the material web, which while braked in the roll stand is fed into the production machine. Based on that detection, the power supplied to or from a power receiving or power supplying system is regulated in such a way that the tension in the material web, which is fed in to the production machine, is kept constant.