A succession of web workpieces are first positioned at a loading station one after the other flat on an upstream input conveyor and then are transported by the conveyor in a transport direction through a treatment station where the workpieces are acted upon to a downstream output table. The workpieces are then gripped one at a time, and then lifted off the output table and displaced laterally of the transport direction to a return conveyor extending in the transport direction. These workpieces are then moved by the return conveyor opposite the transport direction to the loading station.