Warehouse theft prevention is once again making headlines, following a wave of high-profile reports of theft across the UK and Ireland. From fulfilment centres handling high-value tech, to regional distribution hubs storing consumables and tools, internal theft, is a growing – and costly – concern.

Traditional racking and open-access storage environments often lack the controls needed to stop theft at source. It’s why organisations – from manufacturers to fast-moving distributors – are increasingly turning to intelligent, enclosed, and integrated systems like Industore’s Lean-Lifts and Rotomats (automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS)). These solutions do more than streamline operations. They help prevent loss, protect stock, and give warehouse managers the oversight they need.

Implementing batch picking with Industore's Lean-Lifts to speed up pick rates is easy.

Hänel Lean-Lift ASRS

ASRS maximises floor space – regularly saving 80%
Dramatically increase staff productivity
Increase security and protection over assets

Rotomat homescreen vertical storage carousel

Hänel Rotomat ASRS

Store all your valuable tools and small parts securely
Reduce the need for relocation
Create efficiencies with streamlined processes

Secure warehouse storage: Protecting goods, people and processes

In one recent case, a warehouse operative was discovered to have removed over £10,000 worth of stock, undetected, over several months. In another, multiple employees exploited departmental silos to systematically remove high-value goods. In both cases, the organisations’ storage systems were ill-equipped to cope with modern security risks.

Industore’s enclosed Hänel Lean-Lifts and Rotomats offer a fundamentally different approach. Each SKU, each item is held securely within an access-controlled unit – where PINs or RFID tags (and so on) govern every interaction. Integrated software such as HänelSoft (either acting as, or linked to a customer’s warehouse management system, (WMS)) provides built-in traceability. Every transaction is logged. Every shelf, time-stamped. Every action is auditable, can be photographed – and is entirely accountable, removing even the temptation of pilferage – introducing, at the most organic level, warehouse theft prevention.

But it’s not just warehouse theft prevention that comes with Industore solutions. Take Industore client, TEC Industrial, one of Ireland’s leading distributors of industrial products. Here, a single Lean-Lift reduced walk-and-search time and freed up valuable floor space – as well as improved inventory security. As demand grew, so did the system – not just for efficiency, but for confidence in control.

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Warehouse theft prevension:

If picked up, internal theft often goes unnoticed for weeks – sometimes longer – and is rarely traceable. Warehouse theft prevention then, starts with access control: Applying digital and physical restrictions from the ground up. Take Industore client, Interfix, a distributor of fasteners and fixings based in Worthing. Here, Industore installed multiple Lean-Lifts to eliminate mispicks and remove opportunities for misplacement. Now, all stock is held securely and delivered at ergonomic height, reducing errors, drops, breakages – as well as personal injuries. The system logs who accessed what, when and for which order – which is known to discourage theft, as well as make it virtually impossible without accountability.

Read the full case study

Industore - Hanel Lean-lift at Interfix: Warehouse theft prevension

In larger distribution environments – including those storing high-value power tools – Lean-Lifts installed by Industore now serve as both storage and control mechanisms. Item picks are tracked by user, unit and order, ensuring a complete audit trail and tighter operational governance.

Supply Chain Resilience and Warehouse Theft Prevention

Loss doesn’t only affect margins. It undermines trust, disrupts fulfilment, weakens supplier relationships, and drives up operational costs. In sectors such as engineering, logistics, defence and utilities, secure systems are essential – but increasingly, they’re built in to all sectors.

Jobe Bruzas, Marketing Manager, Industore:

“When a business suffers stock loss through internal theft, the impact goes far beyond financials. It undermines trust – not just within the operation, but externally, with customers, suppliers and even the occasionally the market as a whole. Secure, automated storage doesn’t just protect goods – it protects brands…and today, that’s just critical. It goes far beyond the initial assumptions people make about physical or monetary losses.”

Jobe Bruzas, Marketing Manager at Industore Limited and Transformation Expert

Beyond warehouse theft prevension, the operational benefits are plentiful. AS/RS systems (automated storage systems) offer dense, high-capacity storage on a minimal footprint – reducing cost per square metre, reducing overheads, and freeing up space for revenue-generating activity – as well as speeding up picking activities, and decreasing mispicks. With integrated inventory management systems, businesses can operate faster, leaner and more accurately, with less reliance on manual tracking or oversight.

Warehouse theft prevention starts with good design. Industore’s smart warehouse solutions – from Lean-Lifts and conveyor systems, to software integrations, help businesses embed physical and digital access control into their storage strategy – tailored to their footprint, product type, and fulfilment priorities.

Take a look at some of our recent, real world case-studies, which include feedback and interviews from the end-users, here: Projects. If you’d like to discuss your inventory and access challenges, or have a project in mind, book a complimentary, no-obligation site audit via our contact us page.