Neck Bander Machines

Neck band applicators, or neck banders are designed to apply a heat-shrinkable film band around the neck of a bottle or container. Neck band applicators take a roll of tube film and fold the tube of film counter to its seams to open the tube film. The tube of film is then lower around the neck of the container by the neck band applicator. Neck bands can be either cut by the neck band applicator or can be supplied pre-perforated and simply pulled from the film stock by the neck band applicator. After the film band is placed on the neck of the container, the container passes through a neck band shrink tunnel that shrinks the film of the neck band around the neck and cap of the bottle. Neck bands are designed to be tamper evident so that the film of the neck band must be ruptured if the cap is removed from the container. Neck band applicators have special tooling often referred to as a “bullet” that is designed to open the flat film tube. This “bullet” is placed within the film tube, is held in place by tooling surrounding the film tube, and is specifically sized for the size of neck band. The “bullet” is a change part for neck band applicators. The operation of a neck band applicator is similar to the operation of a body sleeve applicator, though neck band applicators often have machine limitations that prevent them from applying full body sleeves.