Handling is a subfield of material flow in production systems and covers the positioning and movement of objects, such as materials and products. For this purpose, handling systems are used, which consist of a motion device (robot), an end effector (gripper), sensors, peripheral equipment, and the object to be grasped. Successful grasping of an object depends in particular on the design of the gripper and process conditions. This contribution examines a vacuum gripper concept, depicted in Figure 1. The gripper is based on a flexible membrane filled with granules, featuring a porous surface on its underside. This configuration enables the gripper to conform to objects of varying geometry, thereby facilitating reliable grasping and handling. By adjusting the filling level of the granules, as well as the material properties of both the granules and the membrane, the degree of deformability and the extent of conformal adaptation to the surface of the grasped object can be systematically influenced. Upon application of a vacuum, the resulting suction force permits a secure grasp of objects with different shapes. In order to gain deeper insight into the influences of gripper design and process conditions on the gripping process, the molding behavior is investigated numerically using the Discrete Element Method (DEM). To this end, the effects of the bond properties forming the airtight membrane, the particle properties, as well as relevant process parameters on the resulting molding of the gripper around the object are systematically analyzed. Finally, a comparison with experimental results will be conducted to evaluate whether a prediction of the gripping force based solely on the molding process is already feasible, or whether a coupled CFD or CFD–DEM simulation is required.