Board notes

Export Week

By Yonela Mofokeng, MD

Export Week focuses on the final packing and paperwork checks for assembled PCBs, loose parts, and SMT equipment leaving South Africa. It covers count verification, label matching, and carton or crate prep before handover to freight or courier.

Keep the note close to dispatch detail rather than sales talk. Teams in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape often need the same basics checked properly: commercial invoice wording, box counts, anti-static packing, and outer marks. When you write to us through the contact form, mention the shipment reference and the export details you need checked.

Checks before export packing

Consignee name matches shipping papers
Board trays, bags, or reels counted twice
Drawing, PO, or part codes recorded
Dispatch contact listed with full role

Export Week sits alongside machine and process notes in the journal hub. Use it when the issue is not placement accuracy or oven profile, but what happens after the boards are built and must travel with the right records.

How Export Week runs across an actual production week

Export Week covers the packing routine for assembled PCBs leaving South Africa. It is for electronics teams that need cleaner export packs, clearer paperwork and less dispatch confusion at the end of the run. Use it when boards must travel without avoidable handling damage.

Begin with the board type, quantity, destination, and the dispatch method. A road shipment to a neighbouring country does not get packed the same way as air freight through OR Tambo, and coastal humidity can change how moisture barrier bags and desiccant are handled. Collection cut-off times, public holidays, and power interruptions also affect when the final pack check should be signed off.

Take photos after packing materials are laid out and again once cartons are closed. Include carton labels, inner ESD protection, and any fragile markings so the record shows what actually left the site. Those images help when stores, production, and dispatch need to reconcile a shipment later in the week.

Records that travel with boards

The useful outcome is a pack list that matches the physical shipment, plus clear identification on each box or crate. For SMT teams, that usually means board count, revision or part reference, destination details, and enough traceability to answer a dispatch query without reopening packed stock.

Link Export Week with the relevant reflow entry and a matching board note when shipment quality depends on build history. Before the courier arrives, check labels, counts, seal points, and document copies one last time. SMT line enquiries should name the board type, the placement volume and the machines already on the line.

Packing checks tied to shipment type
Label photos saved before collection
Dispatch paperwork matched to the cartons

South African dispatch conditions

Export paperwork often has to line up with freight handling around OR Tambo, Durban port traffic, and inland collection windows from Johannesburg and surrounding industrial areas. Crates may sit longer than planned during handover, so outer labelling, moisture protection, and count accuracy matter before the shipment leaves the factory. Where equipment is included, serial details should be checked against the documents before the crate is sealed.

At coastal sites, corrosion risk and damp storage conditions can influence how boards, spares, and feeders are wrapped for transit. Inland sites may deal more with dust contamination on open packs and rushed late-afternoon collections. Load-shedding can interrupt printing, scanning, and final sign-off, so many teams keep hard-copy checks close to the packing bench.

Operated by Astros Marketing (Pty) Ltd from 2 Makro Place, Sunnyrock 1401.

What Export Week covers

It helps to capture the export record while the shipment is still on the bench or pallet. Pair this entry with the related project paperwork when procurement, stores, or the receiving site asks for supporting detail after dispatch.