So much depends on context when it comes to figures. 1.1 percent might not sound like a very big number on its own, but in the context of other major developments within certain sectors of business it could mean a major milestone. According to a release from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, domestic industrial production went up by exactly that much last month.

And compared to the measly 0.1 percent that it rose in October, this represents a significant development for this figure. More details from the release indicate an even higher level of improvement for specific "market groups", like "materials," which was at a level of nearly 4 percent higher than it was in 2012.

On the whole, manufacturing has also made out well, having risen steadily by nearly three percent since last November. Manufacturing has also done well when it comes to "capacity utilization," growing by more than 1.5 percent in total.

Although the overall effects of these kinds of reports may not always be easy to spot, your company can take on software for manufacturing that might help you translate these into locally relevant terms, or at least cull data like this from your own processes. The Wall Street Journal went into a little more detail on the different aspects of manufacturing that grew.

"Textiles, oil and coal, wood products; nonmetallic minerals like stone, clay and glass fabricated metals electrical equipment appliances; and furniture also posted gains," Jeffery Sparshott writes in this source. 

You need to create an atmosphere in which these kinds of upticks are capitalized on and responded to in the right way. Software business solutions can help you keep up-to-date, especially if we see this jump in productivity continue.