Reduced material container and method of forming same

A system for making a reduced material container comprising:

• a mold having an open state and a closed state, the closed state forming a cavity defined by an internal surface of the mold, the internal surface extending axially from a first end configured to accept a preform to a second end located remotely from the first end, the preform extending axially from an open end to a closed end, where a first length is defined by an axial distance between the first end and the second end of the internal surface;
• a blow nozzle configured to receive a pressurized fluid and dispense the pressurized fluid to the preform;
• and
• a stretch rod configured to extend into the open end of the preform when the mold is in the open state to mechanically stretch the preform to a second length greater than the first length, thereby forming a stretched preform, wherein the mechanical stretching of the preform includes the stretch rod pushing on the closed end of the preform from within an interior of the preform to reposition the closed end of the preform from a first position where the closed end of the preform is disposed axially between the first and second ends of the internal surface to a second position where the closed end of the preform is disposed axially beyond the second end of the internal surface, wherein the stretch rod is further configured to be retracted from the stretched preform following the stretching thereof to the second length;
• wherein the mold is configured to move from the open state to the closed state to truncate a portion of the stretched preform including the closed end thereof at the second end of the internal surface to form a truncated preform, and wherein the blow nozzle is configured to transfer the pressurized fluid into the truncated preform to urge the truncated preform to expand toward the internal surface of the mold cavity to thereby form the reduced material container.