To swage a marker to a linear material.

A swager for swaging marker bands to a medical catheter, includes an article input mechanism 49. The article input mechanism 49 includes a first input roller assembly 60 for receiving and conveying an article, a first sensor 95 for detecting a predetermined aspect of the article, a second input roller assembly 68 for receiving and conveying the article, a positioning roller assembly 77 for precisely aligning the article with respect to a swaging head 50, and a second sensor, and all the parts are constructed and arranged in a streamwise orientation. The swaging head 50 has a radial compression swaging head with a central swaging aperture, the swaging head being aligned and communicatively coupled with the input mechanism to receive an input article from the article input mechanism and to swage the article. The swager also has an output mechanism 51 aligned and communicatively coupled with the swaging head 50 to receive the swaged article.