On both a national and local scale, knowledge of manufacturing statistics matters to your company and should be monitored in order to translate it into good business practices, perhaps through the use of business management software.

The Institute for Supply Management has published a news release on several nationally observed manufacturing trends across different branches of the industry, including textiles, metals and wood. The Production Index measured by this organization saw an overall increase over the past six months. Though it also noted a slight decline in its index of "new orders," almost half of the sectors surveyed noted some sort of growth that had taken place.

The Associated Press quoted economist Jim O'Sullivan as having faith in the uptick that this data appears to be demonstrating. While the article the quote springs from notes that the government shutdown may counter some of this progress, on the whole there seems to be some optimism for the way things seem to be going. 

"The data unambiguously point to a pick-up in the trend in manufacturing output growth," O'Sullivan said.

Not every category assessed saw improvement, with exports and imports both seen to have dropped by 3 percent. However, most were noted by the study to be in a phase of "growing," and again, this is the overall picture of development.

Business leaders can look at this information and then decide for themselves how much it corresponds to their own work and which areas need to be focused on the most. Inventory management software can be a part of this effort to seek higher standards of productivity and increase efficiency overall.