They wrap a strip of paper or film around a given product or groups or bundles of products. When stacks of varous products such as labels, cards, blister packs, sachets, or containers to name a few are ready to be bundled, they are placed in the bander, where a sensor detects the bundle and actuates the machine which automatically dispenses a band that wraps around the bundled of goods. More sophisticated equipment can gather, count, stack and band; others will take a continuous feed of boxed products and create bundles in various configurations.

Historically, shrink wrapping represented the typical unitizing or bundling mode for packaging. However, because of the concern for potential damage caused from shrink-wrap tunnels, banding is growing in popularity. For one, it supports the same bundling operation without heat potentially affecting the product. Two, cost control is an advantage because banding solutions are less expensive to operate or maintain than shrink-wrap film or chipboard sleeve solutions.