When you look over the history of commercial printers, it's hard not to be in awe of how far the industry has come.
According to NextWave, the first commercial printer is attributed to German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg in 1450. It was this printing press that first allowed an assembly line-style mass production of books, and it changed the industry entirely.

By 1500, printing presses throughout Western Europe had already produced more than twenty million books.
The Gutenberg press led the way for a long time, until in the 1900s a steam-powered rotary press was introduced and quickly replaced the hand operated press. The machine was capable of printing in bulk and made the turn around swift and easy.
From the 1960s printing has been continually improved, and today almost every home and office houses a printer that has photocopying and scanning capabilities.
Digital printing has vastly improved quality, and 3D printing is becoming a strongly used option for many designers and businesses. Thermal printing is also still very popular, particularly for barcodes and point of sale (POS) receipts.