Why is it that the Pink Floyd's song The Wall comes to mind every time someone wants to do something only to get whacked with a ruler across the knuckles by the "teacher". 
It is so odd that PTC doesn't recognize the need to "re-strike"... a form operation that happens at a next level assembly. This is so common in the industry!
I have seen a tutorial on a progressive die tutorial from PTC. They make extensive use of merged features from one level to the next. I cannot wrap my head around the logic, but there it is.
Let us know what you come up with.