After the invention of ink and paper, the Ancient Chinese used carved blocks of wood to print around 600AD. Later around 1450, Johannes Gutenberg improved the movable printing technique by the development of metal characters. William Caxton was the first person ever to establish a printing press and the first book was printed. In the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, the print media started to boom and grew larger.
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the letterpress printing was being widely used and was further developed as well. In the early 19th century, the technique of color Lithography was also being introduced. The latest technology which is still being used is that of Digital printing and equipments like digital printers and inkjet printers are being commonly used.
It is a fact that about 45 trillion pages are printed every year and about 28 million business cards are printed every day in the US. The growth of the printing business is about 6.8% worldwide on an annual basis.
Another interesting fact is that 1 million printers are being manufactured on a per day basis. The print industry is as big as $640 billion and also has an inflow of $3.8 trillion from allied services.
