A linear motor is essentially an electric motor that has had its stator "unrolled" so that instead of producing a torque (rotation), it produces a linear force along its length. It is essentially an open and laid-flat version of a rotary motor. It has two elements - motor and slide. Linear motors provide several significant advantages over rotary motor/ballscrew configurations. In principle, linear motor machines are an order of magnitude faster, smoother, and simpler than their rotary driven counterparts. Therefore, they can generate parts in much shorter time, with much higher quality, higher accuracy, and considerably lower downtime.