Leading industry figures have issued a rallying cry to the UK's food and drinks manufacturers, calling on them to lend their full support to the drive to improve skills across the sector's workforce.

Delegates attending the Taking On The World skills conference hosted by Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, heard from a number of high-profile employers who took to the stand urging their peers to pull together on training reforms in a bid to make the UK industry the most competitive in the world.

Sir John Sunderland, chairman of Cadbury Schweppes, told the audience in York that the £74 billion industry, the only manufacturing sector in the UK still growing, would need an additional 118,000 skilled workers by 2014 just retain its position behind Canada as the world's second most competitive food and drink producer. He argued that investment in skills is one of the most important factors in any business building long-term sustainability.

"The weight and speed of competition and the effects of a global labour market mean that staff at every level across the UK food and drink industry need to work smarter, know more and apply themselves better," said Sir John. "Our people, and our businesses, have to stay one step ahead of China, Europe and the USA on the skills ladder."

He added that more needed to be done to attract skilled people into the industry and that employers must make their voice heard in the education system to ensure future employees come equipped with relevant skills. He praised the work Improve was doing in this area, particularly in getting school children involved in food and drink projects through projects like the Schools Challenge and the leading role it is playing in developing the new Diploma in Manufacturing and Product Design aimed at 14 to 19 year olds.

"Not every company has the financial headroom to sponsor education initiatives," he said, "but every company should be able to spend some time ensuring that the qualifications our young people achieve are fit for purpose."

Paul Morrow, managing director of British Bakels, also leant his full support to Improve's work, backing the new framework for NVQs and SVQs and the newly-launched on-line National Skills Academy to increase the uptake of training schemes by offering employers more choice, better access and by ultimately delivering the skills they need in their workplace.

But he insisted that without the full support of a sector united in its determination to invest in skills, Improve's hard work would not achieve its goals. He argued in particular that Improve must be fully supported in their efforts to have in-house training recognised as part of accredited qualifications systems.

"I think [this is] one of the most important campaigns Improve is engaged in," he said. "British Bakels follows the general pattern of being disillusioned or ill-served by third party accredited training. We have in the past found much of the prescribed content on these schemes not to be relevant. I need to know that if I invest in training I will get the skills that I need.

"Recognition of the value of the training which we carry out in-house [would ensure that] our investment is visible and assist in recruitment and retention. Solutions like this that Improve are working on do promise to drive training which is tailor made towards employers' needs and enable us to fill skill gaps in our workforce through access to training that is 100 per cent relevant. But we, as employers, have to make sure that this will happen and that we support Improve. They have the ear of government and what we have to do is make sure that we use this facility."

Jack Matthews, chief executive of Improve, said he felt the conference had reaffirmed the shared vision to make the UK food and drink manufacturing sector the world leader in terms of skills and productivity. "What this event has proved is that we are all pulling in the same direction," he said. "It has allowed us to reflect on what we have achieved so far but more importantly to focus on where we need to be going next in order to reach the challenging targets we have set."

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