LMI: Logistics Managers' Index
A monthly survey-based diffusion index tracking inventory, warehousing, and transportation conditions.
The Logistics Managers' Index (LMI) is a monthly diffusion index built from a survey of logistics managers across industries including apparel, automotive, consumer goods, and retail. It combines eight components spanning inventory levels and costs, warehousing capacity/utilization/prices, and transportation capacity/utilization/prices into a single composite reading.
Who publishes it
A university research consortium (published as the-lmi.com), monthly.
How to read it
- Above 50 = logistics activity is expanding; below 50 = contracting — it's a diffusion index like ISM's manufacturing PMI, not a dollar or volume figure.
- Readings are not seasonally adjusted, so compare month-over-month direction rather than absolute level across different times of year.
- Watch the Transportation Prices and Warehousing Prices sub-components separately from the headline number — they lead cost conversations before the composite index moves.
Why it matters
LMI is one of the only indices that captures sentiment across the full logistics chain — inventory, warehousing, and transportation together — rather than one mode in isolation. Because respondents are the people actually making capacity and inventory decisions, LMI often front-runs hard data releases like Cass or Truck Tonnage by a month or more.
Frequently asked questions
How is LMI different from a freight-specific index like OTRI or NTI?
LMI surveys logistics managers across inventory, warehousing, and transportation — it's a sentiment/diffusion index, not a transaction-derived one. OTRI and NTI are built directly from tender and rate data. LMI is broader but less granular; OTRI/NTI are narrower but closer to real transactions.
What does an LMI reading of 55 mean?
Any reading above 50 means the majority of surveyed logistics managers reported expanding activity that month. 55 signals moderate expansion — meaningfully growing, but well short of the 65+ readings seen during acute capacity crunches.
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