In the mid-1980s, The Boeing Company invested in three-dimensional CAD/CAM (computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing) technology. The pilot programs clearly demonstrated the benefits of modeling airplane parts as three-dimensional solids in the CATIA (computer-aided three-dimensional interactive application) system. CATIA - along with several Boeing-created applications - allowed Boeing engineers to simulate the geometry of an airplane design on the computer without the costly and time-consuming investment of using physical mock-ups. The opportunity to apply the new CAD/CAM approach as well as other new engineering and manufacturing ideas came in 1990 with the launch of the Boeing 777 twinjet.