Each week, the Free Press profiles a local business who used the services of The Business Incubator Center to help start or expand a business.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Bruce Strong moved to Grand Junction in 1996 to help a southern California company set up shop in Grand Junction. When that same company — 3-D Systems — packed up and moved to South Carolina in 2006, Strong decided he wasn't moving.

Strong had been an engineering program manager for 3-D Systems, a company specializing in three-dimensional part-building systems. He wanted to remain in Grand Junction, however, so he started his own business.

“I rounded up enough work to keep me busy for a year so I decided to give it a try,” said Strong, who started Black Diamond Enterprises and APEX CAD Products out of his garage. “So far so good.”

When the business grew out of that space, Strong moved it into the Business Incubator Center, 2591 B 3/4 Road.

In his approximately 2,800 square-foot shop Strong makes wax and plastic three-dimensional patterns for a wide range of consumer products and customers.

“I'm usually designing a piece of a larger system,” Strong said.

The patterns vary from medical implants, to radio transmitter parts to fittings for the natural gas industry. His clientele is diverse also, from the world's largest companies to small three-man shops, Strong said.

He also services and re-sells three-dimensional printers and modelers for his old company, 3-D Systems.

“It's all over the map where this type of equipment is used,” Strong said.

From his Incubator shop on Orchard Mesa, Strong also provides phone and Web support for various businesses.

“I can log into a customer's machine (the computer inside the machine) anywhere in the world, and talk to the machine through the computer on my desk,” Strong said.

Since moving onto the Incubator campus, Strong has learned of its other resources. The Incubator is a nonprofit organization that provides low-cost business classes, and free consulting to new and fledgling businesses in Mesa County.

Strong took the Incubator's Leading Edge — an intensive 12-week course training course that teaches cash flow management, marketing, finance, personnel, legal issues, and how to prepare a complete business plan.

Bouncing ideas off the Incubator staff is what he finds most valuable, Strong said.

“They're a great sounding board — someone to talk to about the business; people with a unique point of view — not a competitor; not a mentor.”

Reach Sharon Sullivan at ssullivan@gjfreepress.com.