A Brief History of Oriel STAT A MATRIX and How It Got Its Name
After graduating from college with a degree in Applied Statistics, company founder Stanley A. Marash took a job with General Dynamics, Electric Boat – the builder of the US Navy’s nuclear submarines. The legendary Admiral Rickover personally interviewed Stanley (as he personally interviewed over 14,000 college grads) and selected him as the program’s first statistician.
Shortly thereafter, MIL-Q-9858A (Military Specification: Quality Program Requirements) was published. Admiral Rickover, who was not sure why he needed a statistician or a quality system, decided that developing the quality system must be the job of a statistician. Thus, Stanley set off to design, develop, and implement this quality management system for the Navy’s nuclear submarine program.
After several years bouncing around the country for the Navy, Stanley returned to civilian life in New York in 1968. With $15 to his name and two kids in diapers, he decided to start a consulting company at the ripe old age of 29. He initially focused on helping companies that were selling products to the military and needed to implement MIL-Q-9858A, but soon thereafter assisted firms that were selling to the nuclear power industry.
So, how did the name come about?
As the story goes, Stanley went to a backyard picnic and told friends that he was starting a consulting firm. They all said he needed an impressive company name to legitimize a business being run by such a young man. Everyone started brainstorming and, by the end of the picnic, the new company was officially named STAT A MATRIX (Stanley A. Marash the STATistician). 50+ years later nobody would accuse anybody at that picnic of being a branding genius.
Nonetheless, the new company was a resounding success, and over the years our name has come to be closely correlated with quality management, quality improvement, and regulatory compliance.
In 1977, Congress authorized FDA to regulate medical device manufacturers, and our experience with DoD and nuclear standards/regulations led FDA to us. Soon thereafter, STAT A MATRIX was contracted to train 1,200 FDA investigators in the new regulation. Ever since, our name has been connected to the medical device industry.
We have also assisted organizations in improving their processes with statistical methodologies such as Lean and Six Sigma. In 2001, we saw a demand for these methodologies from the service industries (banking, insurance, healthcare delivery) – something we had not encountered before. Realizing that we did not have service-related experience, we set out to acquire another company that could provide us with this expertise, and in December 2001 STAT A MATRIX acquired Oriel, Inc. We continue to use the expertise that Oriel brought to our organization as we help distributors comply with global regulations.
And...what’s an oriel?
It’s a bay window that protrudes from a castle’s turret. First used in medieval times, the oriel was considered an engineering marvel because it gave the ruler a more comprehensive angle in which to oversee his or her kingdom. This window is like the information and skills that we bring to our clients – it provides them with a more thorough view of what is happening in their business.
