Payments processor TMG Financial Services announced Wednesday the availability of a new web-based tool to help credit unions better manage their plastic card stock. TMG, headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa said in a statement that this task has become more complicated for many financial institutions in recent years as global demand for EMV chip plastic has increased.
“As TMG has assisted our issuing partners through the EMV process and we have seen ordering and reordering times ebb and flow,” said TMG product manager Chole Casber.
Casber continued, “However, on average, we are seeing approximately a 140% increase in production times for EMV cards.”
According to a statement from TMG, Inventory Management is an enhancement to TMG’s proprietary, web-based cardholder account management application, Springboard. The tool displays daily plastic and collateral stock information in an easy-to-understand interface. It gives TMG clients a comprehensive, on-demand view of program images and settings, including chip, card, card carrier and PIN mailer details. Typically, this level of information is not available to financial institution issuers.
“Our intent with this tool is to allow clients to take control of their inventory and gain visibility of up-to-date information to prevent any lapse in stock availability and/or outage,” said Casber.
“Additionally, with EMV comes chip expiration. Knowing the expiration attached to a particular stock helps our clients plan even more specifically around seeking expiration extensions or placing necessary reorders,” he added.
Renee Sanders, AVP of loan services for Purdue Federal Credit Union, and her team participated in the Springboard Inventory Management pilot. “This tool will greatly improve our ability to make smart choices when it comes to reordering plastic stock. We’ve enjoyed being able to see what we have on hand currently, as well as see into the future with the rolling six-month forecast,” said Sanders.
The tool sends automatic alerts to issuers when stock is low and features an advanced monthly forecasting calculator. Up to 18 months of inventory is stored in the system to help cards teams confidently make reorder decisions.
“The forecasting feature leverages information from historical data and future reissue standpoint and provides a calculation that estimates the number of months remaining to help our issuing partners. Moreover, we leverage this forecasting feature to deliver pertinent notifications to our partners to assist their inventory management processes,” said Casber.
Sanders explained further, “The ability to search for specific stock by type and number has also been incredibly valuable. We really enjoy the visual verification of our products. Being able to see the images of all our carriers, inserts and cards has been an added bonus the team has really enjoyed.”
“The rapid creation and rollout of this tool was possible because of TMG’s iterative product development culture,” said TMG CTO Pam Brodsack. “Agile, quick development and enhancement of technology is a capability we are intentional about honing for the direct benefit of our credit union and community bank clients. Consumers demand it of them, so we demand it of ourselves.”
