A feed input assembly for accepting and conveying sheet material of variable length along a feed path including a processing station for performing an operation on the sheet material and an ingestion assembly adapted to capture the sheet material between the opposed friction drive surfaces and accept a leading edge of the sheet material from the processing station at a point of entry. The ingestion assembly includes transport elements having positionable opposed friction drive surfaces which are adapted to vary point of entry along the feed path. By varying the point of entry, sheet material of variable length can be accepted without varying the position of the processing station relative to the ingestion assembly. A method for operating a feed input assembly having positionable friction drive surfaces is also described.