Princeton business closes doors abruptly, idling 100

PRINCETON-All 100 employees of Product Action International, LLC, in Princeton were let go when the company abruptly closed its doors last month, ironically on Friday the 13th.

Upon arriving to work that Friday, employees were informed that the entire company, with 32 offices across the United States and in Canada, was closing for good, said a former local spokesman for the company.

"We all found out when we got there that we would finish the day and that would be it," said Charles Ungetheim, former operations manager for Product Action's Princeton location. "The entire company closed that day."

Ungetheim said that the 10-year-old Product Action location in Princeton was a third-party, contracted company which worked inside Toyota's Gibson County plant. Employees were responsible for sorting and inspecting parts for Toyota, he said.

According to Product Action's Web site, the 29-year-old business provided quality control services for the automotive industry, and worked with automobile manufacturers like Toyota, General Motors, Chrysler, Honda, Nissan, Ford and Subaru.

Ungetheim said Product Action was "still profitable here, just not as a whole."

Or rather, a lack thereof.

"The reason (for closing) is because they knew in the future they would not be able to meet payroll," Ungetheim said. "They were actually a very considerate company in that respect because they were not going to let employees work and not get paid for it."

Ungetheim said all employees were "paid completely through the last day's work."

"It wasn't like they (Product Action) just left," he said. "Yes, they closed abruptly, but everyone got paid."

Ungetheim said because of the sudden timing of the closure, some employees have become concerned about their 401K accounts. He says their are no problems with the 401Ks, and urges any former employee with concerns to simply call either of the phone numbers listed on their 401K monthly statements, 800-442-4015 or 800-972-4015, or visit the Web site at www.mcak.com.