And he warned of a catastrophic situation where only four of five national colleges would offer print courses.
We are not talking huge sums of money here, he said, claiming that the average cost to a company for an apprentice would be 7,000 over the first three years.
After this period companies would be left with trained employees contributing to their turnover, which Johnson challenged anyone to prove was not a good investment.
Those companies that are moving forward and progressing are those that are committed to training, he added.
A meeting of the PEF will be held in October, at which time Johnson will hand over the chairmanship to TJ International chief executive Angus Clark.
And at a conference in November the PEF will outline its findings and the action it proposes to take to tackle the training problem.
People and recruitment is the second of the three pillars that Johnson believes are key to the industrys competitiveness. The operational pillar led to the creation of Vision in Print, the industry forum, while the BPIF is leading progress in the third pillar, representation and partnership.
Representatives of all three will attend a meeting tomorrow (8 August). Vision in Print chief executive Richard Gray and chairman Andrew Pindar, BPIF president Ken Iddon, TJ Internationals Clark and Richard Beamish of the PGC NTO will be among those attending.
