hat features do I get with the Industry Extension Mill Products ?

You could check at SAP Help: Discrete Industries and Mill Products

In short, the industry extension provides:

better usability and stronger capabiliteis when dealing with variant configuration and
batch classification - like through fast data
entries for attributes in item lists, special document lists with attributes, or the ability to
smartly default attributes from predecessor documents
stronger capabilities when using ERP together with APO, like the ability to handle trim
orders
stronger production planning & execution capabilities if you dont use APO - like
through order combination
a whole list of features supporting length-based proccesses - especially important for
the cable & wire industry

Can I activate DIMP in a productive system ?

Actually it is possible, and quite common to "add" Mill Products functionality to ERP. This
does not require a new client or installation.

How do i activate ?
In customizing you activate the Business Function "DIMP_SDUD". See SAP Help.

Points to consider
Test carefully, as activating DIMP changes the program code and UI in many places.
In general, all standard business processes work as in a ERP ECC system
Customer modified code or screens may be affected by the Mill Product
enhancements.
Test in a sandbox ! You will not be able easily to de-activate DIMP afterwards. There is
no standard procedure.
Consider carefully whether you need the industry extension. Most mill processes and
the core Mill Products data model are already well supported without activation of the
industry extension. Industry extensions are in general mutually exclusive. This may limit
your options to activate other industry extension afterwards.
Check the relevant notes:
SAP note 953362 - Industry Solution Mill Products: SAP ECC Industry Extension DIMP 6.0.
Note that DIMP has less languages than core ERP.
SAP note 865969 on release restrictions in general e.g. not using certain mill order types
with APO.
SAP note 933963 on restrictions between ECC DIMP 6.0 and the different extension sets.
SAP note 874473 for information about the installation/activation of ECC-DIMP 6.0