Additive manufacturing processes allow maximum geometrical freedom of design without forming tools, due to the layered structure of the components. Additive processes are ideally suited for the production of complex components that are primarily optimized for design and function. Access to industrial applications of additive processes requires a high degree of process and component reproducibility, reliable and designable processes and tailor-made component properties. The CRC 814 is operating in this field and concentrates on the processes of selective laser beam melting of plastics and metals as well as selective electron beam melting. The CRC 814 aims to produce multi-material components from plastics or metals with defined, reproducible and graded properties using powder- and beam-based additive manufacturing processes. This vision requires the analysis of the entire process chain, from powder production through processing to the final components. The simulation of the individual sub-processes on a micro-, meso- and macroscopic level enables the prediction of process behavior and component properties. In the first funding period of the CRC 814, a basic understanding of powder- and beam-based additive manufacturing processes was created. The modification of the process for the realization of new component properties was the focus of the 2nd funding period. The numerical tools were improved in their efficiency in order to model first complete manufacturing processes and to enable the prediction of component properties in perspective. In the third funding period, the understood processes will be modified to produce components with reproducible, graded and defined properties. In addition, the material design during powder production is carried out with regard to the additive processes. The systematic derivation of correlations between powder, process, structure and the resulting part properties allows an improved process robustness to generate new component properties and multi-material parts. Furthermore, simulations will be qualified to predict the process behavior and component properties on micro- , meso- and macroscopic levels. The consolidation of the simulations implemented in CRC 814 into a virtual laboratory will enable an efficient, computer-aided design of material systems, process strategies and component properties in the future.