Johnson Controls Inc. had a logistics mystery on its hands: thousands of reusable shipping boxes and storage racks were disappearing every year.

The auto-parts maker, which was spending a small fortune to replace the equipment, launched an investigation. It showed some were squirreled away at factories by Johnson Controls’ own plant managers, others were kept by customers. One box was discovered at a Michigan gun range; another had wound up storing bait on a fishing boat in Seattle.

...