Method for operating a mechanical production plant, and mechanical production plant

A mechanical production plant, comprising:

• a mechanical production device configured to carry out a production process in the course of which workpieces are machined by producing machining products from starting workpieces;
• a pallet storage unit having a storage rack and storage pallets,
• wherein the storage rack has pairs of adjacent rack stringers spaced apart in a horizontal direction, as well as pallet storage locations that are adjacent to one another in a vertical direction and that are formed by providing pallet supports on adjacent rack stringers of a pair of rack stringers of the pairs of rack stringers, the pallet supports being located opposite one another at a mutual distance in the horizontal direction, and
• wherein a number of storage pallets that is required for the production process is configured to be provided for the pallet storage unit;
• a pallet transferer by which the storage pallets can be transferred between a production-side position located towards the production device and a storage-side position,
• wherein the storage pallets are stored in the storage-side position on the pallet supports of a pallet storage location in each case and define the storage height of a pallet storage location as a clear vertical distance between two storage pallets that are adjacent to each other in the storage-side position in the vertical direction or as the clear vertical distance between a storage pallet and another boundary of the pallet storage location that is adjacent to it in the vertical direction,
• wherein the pallet storage unit is configured by the storage pallets in a manner adapted to the production process carried out on the mechanical production device, and
• wherein an existing configuration of the pallet storage unit is configured to be changed into a new configuration of the pallet storage unit by changing the storage height of at least one pallet storage location by changing the number of storage pallets of the pallet storage unit;
• and
• a pallet supply,
• to which storage pallets are configured be transferred that are required for the existing configuration of the pallet storage unit and that are not required for the new configuration of the pallet storage unit, and/or from which storage pallets stored in the pallet supply are configured to be removed that are required for the new configuration of the pallet storage unit in addition to the storage pallets required for the existing configuration of the pallet storage unit.