Using combined products

Hello users, I need some help with a product related issue.

We have products that are sold seperately, but they can also be combined into one new product. Of course I know that it is possible to create products one by one, but that would involve lots of updating when a base product is changed. All the combined products that use that product should also be changed manually. That can't be the idea in these days :)

Does anybody have any suggestions on how to approach this matter?