A recent cyberattack on a prominent UK supermarket and FTSE 100 retailer has once again brought warehouse security into sharp focus. While much of the conversation has centred on IT infrastructure and data protection, the real-world consequences were felt in the physical world: delayed deliveries, disrupted inventory, and stalled supply chains – ultimately, costing the business millions of pounds in lost revenue, and perhaps worse – upsetting their customers.
For businesses reliant on rapid fulfilment, the warehouse security is no longer a minor concern – but is fundamental to operational continuity, and the future of organisations. Protecting stock, limiting access to who needs it, and maintaining control are now basic requirements. As businesses are forced to look for smarter, leaner operations, robust warehouse security is a strategic necessity.
Improving Warehouse Security with Integrated Inventory Management Systems
Legacy storage systems offer limited visibility and almost no real-time accountability. When access is unrestricted, and data is manually managed (perhaps stock taking is still carried out on paper), the risk of misplacement, theft or over/under ordering increases – often undetected.
Modern inventory management systems address these risks by embedding digital traceability into every action. Systems like Hanelsoft log every movement of every item, tied to specific user logins and timestamps. We can even integrate our VLMs (vertical lift modules, or automated storage and retrieval systems) with cameras – ensuring all actions are photographed for extra warehouse security. This empowers businesses to understand not only what’s happening – but who is making it happen. Faster pickers can be rewarded, and added attention can be paid to those who need a little more training. Loss and shrinkage become a thing of the past – and inventory control, including stock ordering becomes automated, leaner, and ultimately, strengthens the bottom line.
When combined with secure vertical storage – such as the Lean-Lift (vertical lift) or Rotomat (storage carousel) – our software provides dual-layer protection: digital and physical. Access can be role-based, items are stored within an enclosed system, and inventory is retrieved at an ergonomic, fixed point – eliminating risk and inefficiencies by design.
Warehouse Access Control: Reducing Risk Through Physical Infrastructure
For highly regulated sectors – such as public health or intellectual property – warehouse access control is often a contractual requirement, sometimes a legal one.
In NHS environments, for instance, Industore’s automated storage systems enable secure, trackable access – whether to surgical tools or patient files – such as our NHS Birmingham solution, where Lean-Lifts were installed to house highly confidential patient records, enabling fast and accurate retrieval for authorised staff. Maintaining strict security and full audit and accountability. In other cases — such as the UKBIC – Lean-Lifts store prototype components within access-restricted environments – again, safeguarding confidentiality and compliance.
These principles apply equally to fast-moving goods (FMG). In high-volume logistics environments, organisations must maintain throughput without compromising on warehouse security or operational control. This is the case across all operations, and all businesses – regardless of their size or complexities. Komatsu, for example, uses a single Hänel Rotomat to significantly increase pick speed within an extremely compact footprint – enabling the rapid dispatch of critical spares while maintaining strict accuracy to meet their service level agreements (SLA). In other examples, organisations like Parts Town (formerly First Choice Group) – the UK’s largest OEM spare parts supplier in the catering sector – depend on large-scale Industore automation solutions (including Lean-Lifts and complex software integration, racking and conveyor systems) to meet the sector’s intense demands. For them, speed and precision aren’t advantages – they’re essential to sustaining customer satisfaction and business continuity.
Featured Case Studies
Thanks to the innovative vision of Head of Warehousing & Logistics, Dave Lightening, this pioneering NHS Trust has now modernised, rationalised and centralised their storage with Industore – implementing six, ten-meter automated storage and retrieval units for fast-moving files. For the NHS, warehouse security and efficiency was critical to success.
The Lean-Lifts have transformed UK BIC’s operational efficiency, replacing disorganised 600mm boxes containing mismatched items with an advanced, high-precision system.
This, leading company required a compact, automated storage solution (AS/RS) to enhance efficiency, and maintain warehouse security. Following a thorough go to market exercise, Industore were selected as the preferred supplier, and the Rotomat, our automated storage carousel, the preferred solution.
Parts Town UK store up to 70% of all stock inside the 12 metres high Hänel Lean-Lifts. Warehouse staff run a busy centre, picking up to 200 orders per hour and shipping over 850 orders per day. Our client also prioritises warehouse security and employee safety:
Supply Chain Resilience Starts with Warehouse Security
While “supply Chain resilience” has become a business buzzword, the warehouse remains its most critical – and all too often most overlooked – component.
When systems go down or supply lines falter, the ability to maintain secure, localised fulfilment is what keeps businesses – sometimes even the country – moving. Automated storage systems (AS/RS) play a vital role here: they support mirrored stock layouts, offer real-time visibility, and enable continued operations even in the face of disruption.
In regulated or speed-critical settings, these systems reduce reliance on individual operators or unsecured infrastructure. With secure, self-contained storage that works in harmony with your wider WMS, operations continue with confidence.
Warehouse Security and the Future of Operational Continuity
“The most secure warehouses are those that are digitally integrated and physically controlled – designed not just for access restriction, but for real-time traceability, compliance, and resilience. High-density, automated storage significantly reduces your storage footprint, lowering the cost per square metre, while freeing up valuable space for more other money-making activities. With the right systems in place, 100% traceability, rapid, reliable access, and absolute control is not only possible, it’s unavoidable.”
Ross Powell, Industore’s Managing Director.
Working on your own warehouse or logistics transformation? Speak to Industore about a free, no obligation site-audit.
